Man arrested for blackmailing victims by posing as YouTube ‘Rahul Sharma’

New Delhi: A 27-year-old man was detained for his role in a large sextortion plot after he pretended to be YouTube employee “Rahul Sharma.” By threatening to post their private recordings on social media, the accused had extorted hundreds of people.

According to a statement issued by the Crime Branch in Delhi, “The accused used to pose as one Rs. Sharma, a YouTube employee.” By posing as a YouTube employee and threatening to post their private recordings on the platform, he used to blackmail victims. Additionally, he had assumed the identity of Inspector Surender from the Delhi Police’s Cyber Crime unit.

After capturing hundreds of people’s private films using a WhatsApp video conversation, the accused used the same method to “sextort” and blackmail them. The accused is from Rajasthan, and the PS Crime Branch in Delhi issued the NBW in case FIR No. 281/2022, u/s 384/419/420/120-B IPC.

According to the statement, on November 30, 2022, a formal complaint (FIR) No. 281/2022 was filed at the Delhi PS Crime Branch under Section 384/419/420/120-B IPC. According to the claimant, he was contacted by a “YouTube employee named Rahul Sharma” in November 2022. Claiming to have an offensive video of the complaint, the caller blackmailed him by requesting money to stop it from being shared on social media.

The announcement states that “investigations revealed that the so-called ‘Rahul Sharma’ was acting as an agent of one Sandeep Aggarwal (who had previously been arrested) who conducted an extortion scheme with a group of cyber fraudsters.” The complainant originally deposited Rs 361,000 into other bank accounts out of concern for harm to their image. But he kept getting extortion calls from different cellphone numbers, which prompted him to repeatedly send an extra Rs 25 lakh.

Further investigation revealed that the complainant had been the victim of cybercriminals who had become friends with him on social media, collected incriminating images and videos, and used them to blackmail him, the statement said.

According to the announcement, “SI Harvinder and his team had been working in accordance with superior officials’ directives to track down the sought or absconding accused in this case. The raiding team carried out a number of searches at the hiding places in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, and Nuh, Haryana. Technical monitoring further revealed that the accused’s whereabouts were in Yamuna Nagar, Haryana. The crew acted quickly, conducting a raid and apprehending the accused. He was brought before the Honorable Court and was granted a five-day PC remand in order to apprehend the other co-accused and retrieve the whole money that had been defrauded.

“Shahid, the accused, revealed during questioning that he had attended a government school in Gokulpur, Nuh, Haryana, up to the third grade. As a kid, he lost both of his parents. He married in 2009 and has five kids currently. He struggled to provide for his family on a daily basis while working as a farmer,” the statement goes on.

According to the press release, “He and a few of his friends met Wasim, a native of Kannaur, Jaipur, Rajasthan, in 2022. Wasim was a member of a gang that engaged in extortion under the leadership of Majid. Sahid joined the gang in order to make money.

Sahid took on many identities to execute the extortion plan. Sometimes he purported to be “Inspector Surender Kumar from the Crime Branch, Delhi Police,” while other times he pretended to be “Rahul Sharma from YouTube.” The defendants had engaged in extortion against hundreds of individuals over the previous several months. The situation is still being looked into further.

According to the statement, “Online extortion, a type of infamous cybercrime that has been frightening people nationwide for a while, involves recording offensive videos of unwary individuals via video calls, primarily via WhatsApp.” Cybercriminals then use fictitious identities such as police officers, social media staff, etc. to blackmail the victims. Occasionally, victims wind up giving these cybercriminals millions of rupees.