Thiruvananthapuram: The city cyber police have arrested three men from Rajasthan on charges of squeezing a large number of city youth attending honey traps online.
Police identified the defendant as Vallabh Patidar, 23, Ashok Patidar, 26, and Nilesh Patidar, 19, came from the Durgapur district in Rajasthan.
Cyber police officials said that the three were accused of being caught after an extended investigation for two months.
A professional who resides in the city is a complainant.
He had lost more than Rs 10 Lakh to the gang after he fell on their trap prey.
The Cyber City Crime Police Office DSP Syamlal said that the gang trapped a complainant through pop-up advertisements they had placed on the porn website.
Through advertising, the complainant connects with a gang, which offers to give him obscene content.
Then, one of the gang members contacted him from another numbers who pretended to be CBI officers and threatened to publish onlin’s activities on social media.
After this, the complainant transfers the amount of extortion through the money online wallet in several installments.
He approached the police with complaints when the gang continued to demand more money.
“Gang constantly continues to change their location, making it difficult to track them.
After studying their cellphone signal movements, we note that they always return to the Durgapur district, follow what we confirm as their operating base,” Syamlal said.
After being detained, it was revealed that the gang committed a similar violation in the past too.
The majority of their victims are school students who use their cellphones, intended for online classes, to browse the pornography website.
No complaints made against them before because they often squeeze a small amount, ranging from Rs 2,000 to RS 5,000, depending on the age and financial ability of the victim, DSP added.
Online honey trap: three of Rajasthan arrested
