Engineer from Kanjurmarg loses `1 lakh to sextortion

A 24-year-old engineer from Kanjurmarg recently fell prey to cyber sextortion and ended up losing Rs1 lakh within a day. The man’s ordeal began with a call at 11.30pm on March 24 on his Instagram account from a woman named Vaishali Goli (@vaishali_goli_1252). Within hours he was regretting accepting the call.

Shortly after the call, Vaishali asked him for his WhatsApp number and resumed their conversation there, switching to a video call when she asked him to undress, which he claims to have refused.

On his refusal, she started to remove her clothes, which is where the video call ended. However, the man received a recording of the call on his WhatsApp with a threat to circulate it among his contacts. The man was asked to pay Rs10,000 in the name of Kiran Bala. Fearing defamation, he paid but was asked to pay another Rs18,000 to delete the video from the woman’s phone gallery, Rs40,000 to permanently delete it and another Rs10,000 from Instagram chat and Rs22,000 to “complete the process”. He paid the last instalment to a different UPI under the name of Mahesh Saini.

However, again on March 25, he received a call from an unknown person on WhatsApp and was asked to pay Rs 35,000 to take the video off from certain social sites. This time, instead of paying, the man spoke to his two flat mates, who suggested blocking all the numbers and reporting it to 1930, the National Cyber Crime Portal. After reporting to the helpline, he approached the Kanjurmarg police station to register a formal complaint against the Vaishali, Kiran Bala and Mahesh Saini and handed over their contact numbers, UPI IDs and bank account details.

A police official said, “It’s a typical case of sextortion, where cybercriminals play with the vulnerabilities. Using taboo as their main tool by threatening to leak videos, they extort money from them. However, citizens should immediately register the complaint by dialling 1930 even if they end up losing money. Promptness in such situations will not only save their money but will also help us track the bank accounts of cybercriminals.

Initially, the man was asked to pay `10,000 to delete saved videos