Befriending a stranger on social media proved expensive for a 69-year-old retired private sector employee in Bengaluru, who lost Rs 1.7 lakh after a nude video scam. The victim, Saajan (name changed), a resident of an apartment in Gunjur near Whitefield, befriended Komal Sharma on Facebook and used to chat with her on the Messenger app.
The incident occurred on November 21, when Komal made a video call to Saajan. Initially, the senior citizen disconnected the call, but he answered it when she called him back to back, only to encounter a woman posing nude on the other side, according to a report by Times of India.
The woman also talked to him inappropriately. Startled by the whole act, Saajan warned the woman to not contact him again and disconnected the call.
However, the ordeal did not end there. After some time, Saajan reportedly received a video clip of their interaction from Komal, along with a photo capturing him and her.
She threatened to upload the compromising video and photos on social media and tried to extort money from him. The retired man told police that he initially refused to give the money and blocked her on the Messenger app.
The next day, the man reportedly received calls from an unknown number, with the caller claiming that Saajan’s nude photos and videos had been uploaded on YouTube and demanded Rs 76,500 to remove him.
A panicked Saajan transferred the said amount to the bank account given by the caller.
Later in the day, he received a similar call from another miscreant, but the extortion amount increased to Rs 94,000 more.
The senior citizen again transferred the amount to the caller’s account through a digital payment application.
When the miscreants tried to extort more money from him for the next three days, Saajan decided to approach the police.
Based on Saajan’s complaint on November 27, Bengaluru police registered a case under the Information Technology Act and IPC sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly including delivery of property).
“Saajan chatted with the woman for a few days during his free time. We are not sure if he posed nude during the call. He claimed that his videos were morphed. We’re probing into it,” the TOI report quoted a senior police officer as saying.
A similar incident was reported in Bengaluru in August this year when a 74-year-old retired government employee fell prey to an online scam and lost Rs 35,000 after receiving a WhatsApp video call from a nude woman.
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