HYDERABAD: Cyber fraudster blackmailed two men, including a 78-year-old, after they picked up a WhatsApp call from unknown number where a woman began to strip.
The nude call was recorded and the men were threatened to pay or be shamed on social media.
The two coughed up about 23 lakh before making a police complaint.
The accused are yet to be caught.On Tuesday, the septuagenarian from Narayanguda approached the Hyderabad cyber crimes PS to complain that he had been blackmailed into paying about 15 lakh to cyber fraudsters.
As I answered the WhatsApp call from the unknown number, I saw the woman stripping.
The caller asked me to strip too and as per her instructions I went to the washroom and undressed, he said in his complaint to cops.The video call was soon disconnected and the complainant received his own nude video clip.
The unknown woman called him to pay money to not share the video on social media.
The man started sending money to different bank accounts and some time later he received a fake call from a man claiming to be a Delhi-based cyber crime inspector about a complaint lodged against him by a woman for obscene video chat.
Fearing he will be arrested, the complainant contacted the fraudsters requesting them to withdraw the police complaint and ended up paying 15 lakh in a span of few days.
As the accused continued to ask for more money, he finally approached the police.Earlier, on Monday, a 59-year-old insurance company employee from Lalapet too approached cops and complained that he was forced to pay 8 lakh to fraudsters in a similar fraud.
I paid 8 lakh to the fraudsters, but they kept asking for more, the man said in the complaint.
Cyber crime ACP KVM Prasad said that they have registered cases under IPC sections 384, 419, 420 and the IT Act.