With help from the local cops of Haryana, Rajasthan and UP, the Cyber Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch (CB) has busted a pan-India sextortion racket, which has been primarily targeting politicians, bureaucrats and celebrities. Three people have been arrested and the cops have blocked 175 Facebook accounts, through which the accused have been luring people using photographs of good-looking women. The CB has also found a video in which a senior member of the gang is seen training others on how to make sextortion calls and the precautions that need to be taken to evade law-enforcing agencies. 

According to the CB, the accused were arrested from the tri-junction of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, the area from where the gang has been operating. “They had created fake Facebook accounts using pictures of women to lure the victims. Multiple complaints have been filed, all of which are being investigated,” said Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner of Crime, Mumbai. “We have blocked 175 Facebook accounts and have frozen 58 bank accounts through which the extorted money would be transferred,” he added.