Mangaluru: A 19-year-old has allegedly lost Rs 5.2 lakh after being blackmailed by a person he met on Instagram , who threatened to circulate an edited obscene photograph among the victim’s Instagram followers.
The victim was contacted on Instagram by a person identifying himself as Jamshed, according to the complaint filed with the CEN Crime police. The accused allegedly posted a WhatsApp number in the comment section and asked the victim to communicate with him through WhatsApp.
When the victim initiated contact on June 19, the accused allegedly demanded Rs 300. After repeatedly calling and pressuring the victim to make the payment, the victim transferred Rs 300 through PhonePe to a QR scanner shared by the accused. Fearing the threat, the victim allegedly made multiple payments through PhonePe to different QR scanners provided by the accused between June 19 and July 23. A total of Rs 5,24,712 was allegedly transferred from the victim’s bank account.
The accused subsequently allegedly demanded money through other WhatsApp numbers. When the victim refused to pay, the accused allegedly sent an edited photograph of the victim morphed with an obscene image, and threatened to circulate it among the victim’s Instagram followers.
Based on the complaint, CEN crime police have registered a case and initiated an investigation into the alleged online blackmail and financial fraud.