Mumbai Cyber Fraud: Kanjurmarg Retiree Loses ₹15.28 Lakh In Sextortion Scam After Accepting Facebook Friend Request

Mumbai: A 63-year-old retired man from Kanjurmarg East has allegedly been cheated of Rs15.28 lakh by cyber fraudsters who trapped him in a sextortion racket after sending him a Facebook friend request using a fake female profile. The accused allegedly recorded an obscene video call, threatened to circulate the footage on social media and later impersonated police officers and YouTube officials to extort money from the victim.

Fake Facebook Profile Used To Befriend Victim

According to the FIR, the complainant, a retired employee of a private company, lives with his family in Kanjurmarg East. On August 10, he received a Facebook friend request from a profile named 'Kajal Sharma'. After accepting the request, the person behind the profile shared a WhatsApp number and began chatting with him.

A few days later, the woman allegedly made a WhatsApp video call and displayed an obscene video, eventually persuading the complainant to appear nude on camera. The accused reportedly recorded the video and soon contacted him, demanding Rs10,000. She threatened to send the recording to all his Facebook friends and upload it on social media if he failed to pay.

Victim Blocks Fraudster After Receiving Threats

Scared by the threat, the victim blocked the number and removed the profile from his Facebook friends list.

However, the harassment allegedly continued. On October 6, at around 10.30 am, he received a call from a man identifying himself as Sandeep Kumar, claiming to be a police inspector based in Delhi. The caller allegedly told him that his obscene video had been uploaded on YouTube and advised him to contact a person named Rahul Sharma, purportedly a YouTube employee, to get it deleted and blocked.

Fake YouTube Official Demands ₹2.63 Lakh For Video Removal

When the victim contacted Rahul Sharma, he was allegedly told that removing the video from YouTube and other social media platforms would cost Rs2.63 lakh.

The fraudsters subsequently escalated their threats. On October 13, another person, identifying himself as Vikram Rathod, allegedly called the victim and claimed to be a police inspector from Jaipur Police Station in Rajasthan. He told the complainant that a woman named Kajal Sharma had died by suicide and that his obscene videos had been recovered from her mobile phone. He further threatened that Mumbai Police would be approached to arrest him in connection with the alleged suicide case.

Fraudsters Obtain Aadhaar, PAN And Bank Details

The caller also obtained photographs of the victim's Aadhaar card, PAN card and bank passbook. When the frightened complainant pleaded for help, the accused allegedly demanded money under various pretexts, including settling the case, changing the post-mortem report, managing the deceased woman's family and arranging a lawyer.

Believing the threats, the victim transferred a total of Rs15.28 lakh from his and his wife's bank accounts to multiple bank accounts provided by the accused.

Even after receiving the money, the fraudsters allegedly continued demanding more. Realising that he had fallen victim to an online fraud, the complainant lodged a detailed complaint through the national cybercrime helpline 1930 and subsequently approached the Eastern Region Cyber police station.

Police have registered an FIR against unidentified persons under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act. Further investigation is underway to identify the accused and trace the money trail.

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