A 75-year-old resident of Vasant Kunj fell victim to a sextortion scam and was cheated out of Rs 7.34 lakhs by cyber criminals. KN Joshi, the victim, was deceived through an explicit video chat followed by an extortion demand. According to Joshi's complaint filed with the Delhi Police on January 15, he received a message from a woman named Anjali Sharma, who initiated a video call during which a woman appeared nude. The call abruptly ended after a few minutes.
Two days later, on January 17, Anjali shared a manipulated obscene video of Joshi and threatened to make it go viral on social media unless he paid Rs 61,000. In response, Joshi promptly blocked the number.
To intensify the coercion, one of the scammers impersonated former Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana, who retired in July 2022.
On January 25, Joshi received a missed call from an unknown number. When he returned the call, the person claimed to be Asthana and mentioned having information about Joshi's video call with Anjali. The impersonator stated that Anjali, whose actual name was Neha, was a drug smuggler and provided Joshi with a copy of the First Information Report (FIR). The impersonator asserted that the video was circulating on YouTube and shared the contact information of Dhyaneshwar Bajirao.
Joshi contacted Bajirao, who demanded Rs 21,500 and Rs 43,000 through a digital wallet to delete the videos. Bajirao also assured Joshi that his money would be refunded. Joshi gained some trust in their authenticity when Bajirao shared an email stating that the video had been deleted. Despite paying Rs 64,500 in two instalments, Joshi's ordeal did not end as the fraudsters continued to request additional money on various pretexts.
The impersonator posing as Asthana and his associates fabricated elaborate stories about Anjali to extort as much money as possible from Joshi. They introduced Joshi to a person named Ajay Kumar Ghagat, claiming he was an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), and insisted that Joshi pay him Rs 2 lakhs as a bribe ("chai pani" in colloquial terms).
Subsequently, the ACP shared a video of a deceased person with Joshi and informed him that Anjali's mother had committed suicide. Joshi was then instructed to deposit Rs 4 lakhs into her account. Over the course of three different dates, Joshi paid a total of Rs 7,34,500.
An investigating police officer stated that in such cyber crimes, fraudsters employ pre-recorded explicit videos of women, which they play during video calls. Initially, recipients believe they are speaking with a real woman. During the recorded call, these women request that individuals undress or engage in obscene acts. The criminals record the victims' actions and subsequently threaten to make the recordings viral on social media unless a payment is made. The officer also noted instances where individuals received calls but refused to participate in any indecent acts.
"Even then, they recorded the video of such people, morphed it, and made it obscene. They shared it back to people asking them to pay, otherwise, they would make it viral on social media," the officer told the news agency PTI. He further revealed that the fraudsters exploit the name of a senior police officer to intimidate victims and sometimes even disguise themselves as police officers while demanding substantial sums of money.
The police have launched an investigation with the hope of making progress and apprehending those responsible for the crime.