A racket of blackmailing women through social media and dating/matrimonial apps has been busted across the country. The cyber station team of South-West Delhi District Police has arrested a vicious criminal who made more than 500 women victims of ‘honeytrap’ and ‘romance scam’.
The accused has been identified as Anand Kumar, 35, resident of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal.
Investigation revealed that Anand Kumar used to create fake profiles on dating apps by pretending to be a doctor, lawyer, successful businessman or film producer. He used to target women looking for life partners on matrimonial sites. After winning their trust, he used to obtain personal photos and obscene videos from women. After this the game of blackmailing started. He used to extort lakhs of rupees by threatening to make the video viral on social media.
This is how the matter came to light
The matter came to light when a woman lodged a complaint. The victim said that she was contacted through an Insta profile named Vaibhav Arora. The accused, calling himself a businessman, promised marriage. To win trust he also introduced a fake friend named Anand. Later, on the pretext of medical emergency and loss in business, he cheated the woman of Rs 7 lakh. When the woman asked for the money back, the accused broke the contact by spreading false news of his (Vaibhav’s) death.
This is how the accused was caught
On the instructions of Deputy Commissioner of Police Amit Goyal, Inspector Pravesh Kaushik, SI Priyanka and their team started the technical analysis. The mobile numbers and bank accounts used by the accused were examined. The location of the accused was found in West Bengal. Delhi Police raided there and arrested him. 4 smartphones, 8 SIM cards, 3 debit cards and gold jewelery purchased with the fraudulent money have been recovered from the accused.
Suspicious transaction found
Evidence of suspicious transactions worth more than Rs 2 crore has been found in the bank accounts of the accused. During interrogation, Anand confessed that he was in touch with dozens of women at the same time. He used to spend the fraud money on online gaming and luxury lifestyle. Cyber crime cases have already been registered against the accused in Delhi and Ghaziabad.
take these precautions
● Do not fall into the trap of someone calling you to get a loan.
● Do not share account, Aadhaar number, PAN etc. information with unknown persons.
● If an unknown person adds you to a social media group, ask the reason.
● If someone promises to make huge profits in a short time, then be alert.
● Do not fall into the trap of earning big money by liking videos and web pages.
File a complaint here
The sooner you lodge a complaint in case of cyber fraud, the easier it will be to freeze the amount. Make sure to lodge a complaint within 24 hours on toll free number 1930 or on the National Cyber Crime Portal cybercrime.gov.in.