A sixteen-year old was detained by the Goregaon police for allegedly trying to extort a television actress.
The teen had hacked her Facebook, iCloud and Instagram accounts and downloaded private pictures of the actress and later threatened her, saying he would make her pictures viral on social media and demanded a sum of Rs 5 lakh from the victim. The police has booked the boy under the IT Act and Section 385 (Putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) of the IPC.
According to police sources from the Bangur Nagar police station, an actress approached the police on December 25 and said an unknown person, since December 16, had been sending her pictures of her own on her WhatsApp number and was threatening to circulate these picture on social media and news media and demanding Rs 5 lakh.
The actress told officials that the blackmailer sent her a bank account number too, to deposit money in the account. Officials checking the account number discovered it was a State Bank of India account in Chhattisgarh.
According to sources, the accused had sent a phishing mail to the actress a few days ago and when she clicked the link given in the mail, the teen hacked her Facebook, Instagram and iCloud accounts and got her WhatsApp number too. Shortly after, he started texting her and demanded Rs 5 lakh for not circulating the pictures.
According to officials, the boy hails from Chhattisgarh and had come to Mumbai just five months ago in search for job and to continue his studies. He was staying in Nallasopara at a relative’s house. As the accused is minor the police could not arrest him and he has been sent to the juvenile home in Dongri. The accused is a class 12 pass out. The police has recovered a debit card and other documents from the accused, which were used in the extortion attempt. According to police officials, the boy is well-versed in mobile and computer technologies and now officials are checking if he was involved in some other cases too.
