Safeguard your online data: Cyber police to public

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Traditional crimes in the city may be well within the control of the police, but the rise in cyber-related crimes such as impersonation and ‘sextortion’ have been giving sleepless nights to the cops here.

Cyber Economic and Narcotics from North-East Bengaluru nabbed a person who had allegedly circulated private photos and videos of a woman when she refused his demands for sexual favour. The accused was identified as Samar Parimanik, a native of West Bengal. Police said that the accused had rented a house in Halasuru and befriended the victim, who is also from West Bengal, and had taken up a beautician course.

Within a few months, the accused started demanding sexual favours from the victim to which she refused and returned to her hometown. After getting married, she moved to Bengaluru along with her husband. The victim, in her statement to the police, alleged that the accused began harassing her for money and threatened to circulate her pictures, which he had captured without her knowledge.

When the victim did not yield to his pressure, the accused shared the pictures to a few of her relatives after which the victim approached the cyber police and filed a complaint against him.In another case, police arrested two persons for extorting money from a resident in Bengaluru.

The arrested accused have been identified as Sunil Kumar, 21, a resident of Thotadaguddahalli, and his friend Lakshmipriya, 31. It is said that Sunil pretended to be a girl and began chatting with the resident on the 'Blue Chat' mobile phone app. Believing the accused was a girl, the victim invited him to his house. Kumar, however, sent Lakshmipriya to the victim’s house where she recorded a video with the victim.

Later, Kumar and Lakshmipriya allegedly began blackmailing the victim. Following a complaint filed by the victim, the police nabbed the duo and seized 45 grams of gold jewellery, one mobile phone, and two 2-wheelers estimated to be worth Rs 2.2 lakh, from their possession.

Meanwhile, the CEN police have been advising the public to keep their private information over digital platforms, safe. "Even a simple act like sharing a DP on WhatsApp can lead to a cyber-crook morphing it and using it for extortion," an officer from CEN police station said.