In November, police received a complaint from a LIC officer who alleged that a group of people whom he met online were threatening him. He claimed he had already paid them Rs 3 lakh.
The Crime Branch busted an online extortion gang and arrested the gang leader for allegedly blackmailing at least 12 people in the last year. Police said the accused and his associates approached ‘rich-looking’ men on Facebook and managed to allegedly extort Rs 1.2 crore (approx) from the victims.
In November, police received a complaint from a LIC officer who alleged that a group of people whom he met online were threatening him. He claimed he had already paid them Rs 3 lakh.
Police said the investigating team led by ACP Arvind Kumar found that the gang created fake profiles, posing as women, on Facebook and sent ‘requests’ to their targets. They spoke to the victims over Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. The accused had also employed women who would connect with the victims on video calls and meet them in person. When the victims would come to meet the women, the accused would pose as policemen and “barge” in saying they are “raiding” the place. They would then force the victims to pay Rs 3 lakh-Rs 10 lakh.
During investigation, police found the accused worked from a rented flat in Paschim Vihar.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Dheeraj Kumar said, “The team spoke to the landlord and mounted technical surveillance on the suspects. The gang leader, Neeraj, was arrested from Rohini on Friday. We recovered a phone and a SIM card, along with a hand-written script that was used by the gang to blackmail the targets.” Police said Neeraj confessed that his associates, including two women, were operating from Delhi.