Uptick in 'sextortion' cases with cyber fraudsters on prowl; over 1400 cases in Pune

tech.hindustantimes.com:

A 19-year-old commerce student from Dattawadi in Pune was blackmailed by online fraudsters, who threatened to make his nude photos public. He fell prey to the threats and paid ₹4,500 to them, but ultimately ended his life on September 28 as he could not sustain the pressure. Another man, a 22-year-old student from Dhankawadi area of the city, also killed himself recently after he was harassed and blackmailed by cyber criminals, who threatened that they would share his nude video with his contacts on social media if he did not cough up money. 

These are just a couple of examples from the growing list of 'sextortion' cases that the lurking cyber criminals are indulging in by using the ever-expanding social media space to their advantage. In Pune city alone, more than 1,400 sextortion cases have been reported so far this year, police said. In simple terms, what sextortion means is extorting money from victims by threatening that their private images or videos would be leaked on the Internet. With the increased use of social media, such offences are rising by the day. 

As the cases go up, the cyber police are cautioning people against falling prey to chats on instant messaging platforms with any stranger woman, who acts in an over-friendly manner. "From January 2022, a total of 1,445 cases have been reported in Pune, in which the victims complained of sextortion and blackmailing by cyber criminals. In some cases, offences have been registered and a probe is on," inspector Minal Patil of the Cyber Police Station in Pune said. In all the cases, the victims are male, including old men. Speaking about the modus operandi, she said that the cyber criminals through their women acolytes target male victims by striking a conversation