Gurgaon: The cybercrime police in Faridabad have busted a sextortion racket that allegedly trapped victims through fake social media profiles of women, recorded video calls and blackmailed them by threatening to circulate morphed obscene videos.Three persons, including a minor, have been apprehended. The accused have been identified as Asif alias Bhassu, a resident of Kaithwada in Rajasthan’s Deeg district, his brother-in-law Aman, a resident of Jamai Colony in Faridabad, and a juvenile.Police recovered five mobile phones, four fake SIM cards, fake social media and Gmail accounts created in the names of women, obscene videos and chat records from their possession.According to police, the Cyber Police Station NIT team received a tip-off on Aug 5 that the trio was operating a sextortion racket from Jamai Colony. Acting on the information, a police team conducted a raid and arrested the three.During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they used fake SIM cards to create WhatsApp accounts in the names of women using photographs of young females. “They contacted unsuspecting victims through these fake profiles, initiated conversations and persuaded them to join video calls,” a police officer said.Police said that instead of appearing on camera themselves, the accused played pre-downloaded obscene videos to make victims believe they were speaking to a real woman. “The victims’ video feed was simultaneously recorded using screen-recording software,” the officer added.The recordings were then edited and merged with obscene content to create compromising videos. The accused allegedly threatened victims with making the videos viral on social media, sending them to family members and acquaintances, or implicating them in false cases unless they paid large sums of money.Investigators seized multiple digital devices and electronic evidence, including fake social media accounts, chat records and obscene videos. “The devices will be sent for forensic examination to identify more victims, trace financial transactions, recover linked bank account details and establish the involvement of other members of the network,” the officer further stated. Police also found that one of the recovered SIM cards was used in two cyber fraud cases registered in Rajasthan, indicating possible links with a wider interstate cybercrime network.Asif was produced before a local court, which granted the police three days’ custody for further interrogation into the gang’s operations, financial trail and associates. Aman has been sent to judicial custody, while the juvenile has been sent to a juvenile home.
