New Delhi, June 8 (IANS). The Cyber Police Station of Delhi’s North District arrested a 30-year-old man on Monday. The man is accused of blackmailing young women and extorting money from them using AI-generated photographs through social media.
According to Delhi Police, the accused has been identified as Saurabh, resident of Bhalswa Dairy. He was arrested on June 4 following a complaint by a 19-year-old girl from Malkaganj.
The matter came to light when the complainant lodged an online complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), in which he alleged that he was being blackmailed on social media. During investigation, she told the police that she had received a WhatsApp message from an unknown person in which a morphed photograph was sent to her. The sender then instructed him to contact him through a Snapchat account operating under the name ‘Lakshya Garg’.
The accused allegedly demanded Rs 30,000 in exchange for removing the morphed photo. Fed up with the threats, the victim’s family sent the amount through QR code based payment.
Several months later, in February, the accused again contacted the victim and demanded additional money, police said. After the conversation, the victim sent another Rs 10,000 through a cyber café. The accused allegedly continued to demand more money and pressured her to give contact details of other young women. When she refused, he continued issuing threats, following which the victim contacted the police.
Based on the complaint, a case was registered under sections 77, 79, 308(2) and 351(4) of the Indian Code of Justice (BNS) at Cyber Police Station, North District.
A dedicated team was formed under the leadership of Lady Sub-Inspector Hansul Gupta along with Constables Shehzad, Akash and Aman, working under the supervision of Inspector Rohit Gehlot, SHO of Police Station Cyber North and under the guidance of ACP Operations Special Datarwal.
During the investigation, the team collected technical and digital evidence and conducted extensive analysis. After this the accused was traced and arrested from Bhalswa Dairy area.
During interrogation, Saurabh revealed that he worked in a private financial company and resorted to cyber blackmail for illegal financial gains. Police said that he used to target girls on social media posing as a job provider. After winning their trust, he would collect their resumes and convince them to join the video verification call. The screenshots of these calls were allegedly manipulated into pornographic images using AI-based tools, which were used to blackmail the victims and extort money.
The investigators also learned that the accused had been previously arrested in two cases of extortion, sexual harassment and stalking in Bharat Nagar and Cyber Shahdara police stations in 2022 and 2023.
Police have recovered a mobile phone, a SIM card and a Wi-Fi router, which were allegedly used in the crime. Further investigation is ongoing.
–IANS
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