Sextortion gang eyeing celebrities, politicians busted, three arrested

The cyber wing of the city crime branch busted a gang involved in sextortion targeting politicians and celebrities and arrested three persons in this regard. The gang was operating from border villages of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and allegedly targeted many people across the country, said the police.

According to Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner of Police of the Mumbai Crime Branch, said, "The gang used to target prominent people like celebrities, politicians, bureaucrats and IPS officers after studying their social media profiles." The police, however, have not disclosed the victims citing privacy issues.

After receiving multiple complaints of 'sextortion', the cyber wing has launched a manhunt for the gang and sent their teams to different states to nab the accused behind the racket. The police managed to nab three accused in connection with the racket on the basis of technical analysis.

Police said the gang used to create fake profiles on social media by names Pooja Sharma or Neha Sharma and send friend requests to their targets on Facebook, Telegram and Instagram.

Once they accept their friend request, they converse with them posing as woman. During the chat, they asked for the mobile numbers and began chatting on WhasApp. Before sending friend requests, the fraudsters used to study their social media profiles, said police.

"We have seen the trend that the gang mostly video called their victims on weekends in case he received their call a nude woman or a porn clip could be seen, the fraudsters then prompted their targets to perform sexual activities in front of camera and recorded everything. Within minutes, the victim receives video clips of their earlier conversation followed by an extortion demand. On refusal, they threatened to send the video to their friends,” said Bharambe.