A teenager was arrested by the Hyderabad cyber crime police on charges of blackmailing women, including minor girls, on Instagram.
The accused, Palakurthi Ajay (19) from Dilsukhnagar, who hailed from Parkal in Hanumakonda district, created fake Instagram accounts on different names and targeted innocent girls including minors by sending friend requests. Further, he blackmailed them threatening to upload their private pictures on social media platforms ‘unless they heed to his desires’, Joint Commissioner of Police (Detective Department) Avinash Mohanty said.
He said that on November 29, they received a complaint from a minor girl who stated that for the past few days she was being harassed and blackmailed by Ajay using her private pictures on Instagram. The victim got messages from various Instagram profiles.
“Later in the evening, the accused texted her from his account ‘rafipasha’ over Instagram and demanded money. She accepted and paid ₹3,000 after which she was again asked to pay ₹ 6,000,” Mr. Mohanty said.
Based on her complaint, a case was registered and Ajay was arrested. Further explaining the modus operandi of the accused, the Joint CP said that the former approached innocent girls on social media accounts and trapped them by requesting them to share their nude selfie videos.
He used to create different fake Instagram accounts in different names and sent friend requests to innocent girls including minors. “After his friend request was accepted, he used to make friendship with them by casual chatting and subsequently moved to sexual content and would start blackmailing them after the private photos and videos are sent to him,” the officer said.
