Mumbai, February 22: In a major breakthrough, a sextortion racket in Mumbai was busted by the Mumbai Police which targeted well-known people using fake profiles of women. According to a report by Times Now, the sextortion racket used to target MLAs, MPs, journalists, bureaucrats, among others, by using fake profiles of women and making them watch porn videos. After the racket was busted, the crime branch of the Mumbai Police launched a search operation and arrested three persons. The report informs that the gang  used about 171 fake Facebook profiles and 4 Telegram channels to trap the victims.

The Mumbai Crime Branch seized 58 bank accounts after the accused were arrested. The accused used 54 mobile phones to contact the targets. The three culprits who were allegedly involved with the racket hail from Rajasthan, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. The report informed that after targeting the high-profile people, the accused sent friend requests to them and later began chatting with the victims. Moreover, the accused used to video call them on WhatsApp over the weekends. Sex Racket Busted in Mumbai, Smalltime Film Actor Held, 3 TV Serials Actresses Rescued.

The report informs that the WhatsApp video call started with a porn video that the victims watched. The accused used an app to record the expressions of the people who watched the video, following which the accused edited the two videos and used them to blackmail the targets.

The Times Now report revealed that the accused used to make an extortion call to the targets and demanded money from them and threatened of posting it on social media. The accused demanded a small amount of time at first, but later, when he realised that the targets fell prey to their trap, they used to demand more money.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 22, 2021 11:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).