Pune police expose ‘sextortion’ rackets being run in Rajasthan

On Jan 30, 2022

Pune : NpNews24 Online – Pune police | Seducing people by involving them in sexual conversation on phone and then make them strip their clothes. Then inducing them to utter lewd remarks. After recording all this, the person on the receiving end is blackmailed that their obscene video and audio clips would be sent to family members and would be made viral on social media. Then the victim is told to pay a ransom to avoid getting exposed.

This has become the modus operandi of some gangs at many places in Rajasthan. Since local police did not cooperate, none of these gangs has been nabbed yet.

Incidents of luring a person to take off their clothes on a video call and then recording the call are taking place in Pune and elsewhere in Maharashtra. After receiving such complaints, the Pune police went to Rajasthan to investigate. However, the local police did not cooperate. Thus, these ‘sextortion’ rackets came to the fore.

“During investigation of sextortion cases, such calls were traced to many places in Rajasthan by the Pune cyber police. A police team was sent to Rajasthan. Young men and women from these places are involved in sextortion on the lines of bank frauds committed by unemployed youths in Jamtara, Jharkhand. It has become a ‘business’ of some people in Rajasthan. Since they are getting big money, local young men and women are supporting them, said Senior PI DS Hake.

The Pune police came to know that police teams from other states also went to these places for investigation in similar cases. However, local residents and police did not cooperate with them. Hence, tracking culprits in such cases became difficult for them. Moreover, many complainants initially filed complaints. However, they did not approach the police later when pestering by such elements stopped. This has emboldened these cyber criminals.

Female voice is used to lure victims

A young woman called up a young man in Pune. She befriended him and told him that she had fallen in love with him. In one such video call, she asked him to strip. The gang recorded this episode. Then he started getting ransom calls. He was threatened that the video clip would be posted on his friends’ social media accounts.

Culprits also collect details of relatives, acquaintances

Details of a targeted victim are collected from the internet such as his relatives, friends, etc. They also name some of them and threaten the victim that their video clips would be sent to them. An MBA students had committed suicide in Bangalore as he fell victim to a sextortion racket. A doctor from Mumbai was extorted in a similar manner. Attempts were made to net eminent people and political workers in such rackets.

What is the Jamtara model

Jamtara in Jharkhand became infamous for such calls. The caller would tell the person on the other end that he/she was calling from their bank for updating KYC. Then their bank details are sought, which are later used to withdraw money from their account. A web series was made on such Jamtar incidents. A similar modus operandi is used by villagers in Rajasthan. When a Pune police squad went to Jamtara for investigation, stones were pelted at them. Later, a police squad went to Rajasthan and faced many difficulties.

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