A 22-year-old IT professional in Bengaluru became a victim of sextortion through a dating app. A girl named ‘Ishani’ asked him to become nude on video call and then blackmailed him with the same video and cheated him of Rs 1.5 lakh.
Bengaluru: A 22 year old IT professional got trapped in dating app fraud. He talked to a profile thinking it was a real girl and became a victim of sextortion. This incident took place in Bengaluru, in which the young man lost around Rs 1.5 lakh. The victim is a resident of Ejipura and works as a cloud engineer in a private company. He told the police that on January 5, he befriended a girl named “Ishani” on the dating app ‘Happn’. After sharing some messages and personal information on the app, the two started talking on WhatsApp.
The girl asked him to become nude on video call. As soon as the call ended, he started receiving threatening messages and calls. The scammers demanded money and threatened to send the video to her friends and relatives. Out of fear and defamation, the young man first transferred Rs 60,000. Later, he sent another Rs 93,000 to multiple bank accounts and two UPI IDs. When the threats did not stop even after giving money, he told everything to his friends and contacted the police.
Based on the complaint, the Central Cyber Crime Police Station has registered a case under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act (IT Act) and section 308 of the Indian Judicial Code. A senior police officer said that investigation is going on to trace the accused. Police say that cases of sextortion related to dating apps are continuously increasing.