Delhi Police Arrests Man for Extorting Money From Instagram Account Holders on Pretext of Unblocking Their Accounts
The Delhi Police have arrested an "online extortionist" who allegedly extorted money from Instagram account holders on the pretext of unblocking their accounts.
New Delhi, April 27: The Delhi Police have arrested an "online extortionist" who allegedly extorted money from Instagram account holders on the pretext of unblocking their accounts.
The accused, identified as Juned Beg (20), a resident of Jamia Nagar area, reportedly used to target Instagram accounts with a large number of followers and look for content that had abusive language. He would then report the account to Instagram and approach the account holder with the promise of unblocking the account for a sum of money. How to Deal With Sextortion and Online Blackmailing? Government Shares Steps to Stay Safe From Sexual Extortion.
According to the police, Beg was able to extort approximately Rs 90,000 from one of his victims, who had over "eight lakh followers" on her Instagram account. Delhi Police Arrests UP Man for Trying To Extort Money From Woman by Using Her Morphed Obscene Pictures and Videos on Social Media.
"The victim had approached the police with a complaint that her account had been blocked, following which Beg had contacted her on WhatsApp and offered to unblock the account for a fee," said M Harsha Vardhan, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka).
A case was registered at Dwarka cyber cell police station and during investigation, a police team was able to track down the accused and recover a mobile phone from his possession. "Juned Beg was subsequently arrested after which he confessed to his involvement in the crime," said Vardhan.
The police have urged Instagram users to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity on their accounts immediately. They have also assured the public that they will continue to monitor such cases and take strict action against those involved in online extortion.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 27, 2023 05:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).