Hyderabad cybercrime: Retired employee loses Rs 38 lakh in honey-trap scam

A 70-year-old retired employee from Hyderabad was allegedly cheated of Rs 38 lakh in a honey-trap cyber fraud. Fraudsters befriended him through a fake Facebook profile, threatened him with a criminal case and allegedly extorted money while posing as police officials

Hyderabad: A 70-year-old retired employee from the city was allegedly cheated of Rs 38 lakh in a honey-trap cyber fraud after fraudsters befriended him through Facebook and later threatened to implicate him in criminal cases.

According to Cybercrime police, the victim accepted a friend request from a fake Facebook profile that purportedly belonged to a woman. After gaining his confidence, the fraudster allegedly sought money from him on various pretexts and later engaged him in intimate chats.

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The fraudsters subsequently allegedly threatened to implicate him in a case involving the sexual exploitation of a minor and posed as police officials to extort money from him, officials said.

Police later arrested a youth from West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh in connection with the case.

Victims of cyber fraud can report incidents immediately by calling 1930 or through the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal.