Be careful, the PUBG extortionists are here

A minor from Bhayandar has been accused of duping PUBG players using a shadow website of the banned game The boy and his accomplice also a minor have allegedly devised a new modus operandi where the link of a website mdash a copy of the PUBG website mdash is shared on groups of players on Telegram Details typed into the website are used to hack into usersrsquo real accounts and extort from themThe 17yearold was taken to Navghar police early this month by a shopkeeper he conned and released laterThe boy allegedly hacked into the PUBG PlayerUnknownrsquos Battlegrounds account of an Ahmedabadbased businessman and asked him to pay up R35000 Though PUBG is banned in India users play the game using Virtual Private Network VPNThe duo create the shadow website and spam various Telegram groups of PUBG playersAmit Rai in picture and Hitendra Davda planned and caught one of the two boysldquoIf someone clicks on the link they are taken to a user interface designed like that of PUBG When a user punches their password and username to login to the gaming app their genuine account gets hackedrdquo said an officer attached to Navghar police in BhayandarldquoThe minor duo hacked into the account of Hitendra Kishorebhai Davda and started extorting from him on Instagram chatrdquo the officer saidValuable gaming accountDavda had been playing PUBG for three years and his gaming account was valuable as he had purchased expensive weapons to play the game The boy withheld access to the account and demanded money from Davda to give it back If a player decides to let his account go the boy would sell the weapons in the PUBG system to othersSince the boy used Telegram which does not reflect the userrsquos contact number to extort the money the Davda succumbed to their demandsldquoDavda was asked to transfer the money through PayTM One of the boys walked into a mobile shop and requested the owner Amit Rai to give him Rs 3000 for an emergencyrdquo the officer saidRai told midday ldquoThe boy came to my shop on January 8 saying he is in urgent need of cash but does not have his ATM card He said if I give him the cash my PayTM account would be credited by one of his relativesrdquoldquoI got convinced and helped the boy After taking cash he vanished and I got a call from Gujarat The caller said that I cheated him of R3000rdquo said Rai who managed to convince the caller Davda that he was only helping someone in needBoy trapped at shopldquoThe caller asked me to help him and narrated his ordealrdquo Rai said Rai and Davda then planned to trap the boy who had been calling Davda for moneyldquoDavda was asked to pay R2000 through PayTM He paid the amount and sent a screenshot to the boy who walked into my shop to collect the cash on January 11 at 630 pm This time I managed to catch him and handed him to Navghar policerdquo said RaildquoI requested the police to register an FIR against him as he conned me as part of his scheme but police said that the complaint can only be registered in Gujarat where the victim residesrdquo said Rai who stayed at Navghar police station for eight hours The police checked the boyrsquos mobile phone and suspect that he could be involved in 30 such cases of cheating peopleldquoThe brother of the boy came to the police station requesting that he be released as he is a minor The cops let him go homerdquo Rai addedDavda said ldquoI had called on the police emergency number to register the complaint but the case has not been registered yetrdquoAssistant Police Inspector Bhaskar Pulli of Navghar police said ldquoDavda lives in Ahmedabad in the jurisdiction of Satellite police station We have called them several times but the cops there are yet to register a complaintrdquoPolice Inspector JB Agravat from Satellite police station said he will look into the matterBoth the boys live in Uttan area of Bhayandar and one of them studies in a Vikhroli collegeRs 35kAmount the boy demanded from the victim