Multi-state ‘sextortion’ gang that hit MLA busted

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh cyber cell and Chhatarpur district police have busted an online gang after it tried to extort money from a Congress MLA from Chhatarpur district through a ‘nude video call’ trick. One person has been arrested from Bharatpur district in Rajasthan.
Investigators have come across a list of 21 people from Punjab, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh who have been blackmailed by this gang. They collected Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh from each of them. However, none of them reported the matter to police. The MLA, Neeraj Dixit, could have been the gang’s 22nd target had he not approached the police in time, said police officials.
Chhatarpur SP Sachin Sharma told TOI that this gang portrayed itself as young women on dating apps for cat-fishing people after gathering their personal information through social media sites. Once targets were identified, they lured them with photos and invited for real chats. After chatting for a while, they would get the victims on video call, capture the screen and edit it to contrast it with offensive adult content — most often cuts from pornographic clips, police said.
According to the police, even after victims paid, blackmailing often did not stop. They kept threatening people that their morphed chat videos online would be circulated across social media. The accused have so far allegedly cheated people to the tune of Rs 14 lakh.
On May 22, Maharajpur MLA Neeraj Dixit approached Gadimalhera police station with a complaint alleging that an unknown woman was trying to blackmail him by threatening to circulate his objectionable videos over the internet.