Instagram extortionist arrested in Delhi, targeted accounts that used abusive language in content

New Delhi: The Delhi Police have arrested a man who allegedly extorted money from Instagram account holders with huge number of followers on the pretext of unblocking their accounts. The “online extortionist” used to target people with large number of followers.

Modus operandi

As per an IANS report, the accused, identified as Juned Beg (20) is a resident of Jamia Nagar area. Beg used to look for content that had abusive language. He would then report the account to Instagram and then approach the account holder with the promise of unblocking the account for a said sum of money.

Duped Rs 90,000 from one victim with over 8 lakh follower

The Delhi police said, Beg was able to extort approximately Rs 90,000 from one of his victims, who had over eight lakh followers on her Instagram account.

M Harsha Vardhan, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) said, “The victim had approached the police with a complaint that her account had been blocked, following which Beg had contacted her on WhatsApp and offered to unblock the account for a fee.”

A case was registered against the man at Dwarka cyber cell police station and during investigation, a police team was able to track down the accused and recover a mobile phone from his possession.

“Juned Beg was subsequently arrested after which he confessed to his involvement in the crime,” said Vardhan.

Delhi police cautions Instagram users

The police have urged Instagram users to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity on their accounts immediately. They have also assured the public that they will continue to monitor such cases and take strict action against those involved in online extortion.