Goa police arrest man from Bengaluru for cyber bullying woman and extortion

PANJI: The Goa cyber crime police have apprehended an individual from Bengaluru for allegedly cyber bullying and extorting a woman after posting a fraudulent job advertisement online, according to an official statement released on Sunday.
The accused, identified as Mohan Raj V (29), was arrested on Saturday following a complaint lodged by the Goa-based victim.
In her complaint, the woman claimed that the accused had published a fake job advertisement for a position at an international bank and contacted her via a chatting app. "The accused lured her into attending an online interview via video call, during which some persons, posing as representatives of the company, coerced her to undress, recorded the video and took screenshots," the spokesman said.
The accused then proceeded to blackmail the woman, demanding sexual favours in exchange for deleting the compromising material. The victim alleged that the accused had harassed her for two months and insisted that she meet him in Bengaluru, threatening to make her videos and pictures public if she refused.
A team led by Superintendent of Police Rahul Gupta set up a trap in Bengaluru with the victim's assistance. "After extensive efforts and a long chase, the accused was apprehended when he arrived to meet the victim," the spokesperson said. The accused has reportedly confessed to his crime, and the chats and videos of the victim recorded on his phone have been recovered for cyber forensic examination.
The investigation revealed that the accused created fake accounts using VPN phone numbers and posted fraudulent job offers targeting female victims. "They (the arrested person and others) randomly contacted women, induced them to participate in online interviews with promises of high salary packages, and then recorded their objectionable images and videos. These recordings were subsequently used to blackmail the victims for sexual gratification," he said.
Following the woman's complaint, the police registered a case against unidentified persons on April 30. The accused has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 354 A (sexual harassment), 384 (extortion), and provisions of the Information Technology Act.