Cops probe woman's claim of extortion by 'total stranger'

A 23-year-old woman paid Rs 25,000 to an extortionist after he threatened to harm her grandfather. Cybercrime police are investigating this rather bizarre case after the woman filed a complaint.

Lavanya Kapoor, a resident of Turahalli, stated in a complaint to the South CEN police that a man named Anil Sharma, whom she didn’t know before, extorted the money from her last week.

According to Kapoor, Sharma rang her up around 10 am on October 30 and introduced himself. He demanded that she pay him Rs 25,000 but she dismissed him, saying she didn’t owe him anything and demanded why he was bullying her.

But Kapoor got scared and agreed to pay up after Sharma threatened to harm her grandmother. He later sent her a QR code and asked to scan it to make the payment. When she scanned the QR code, her UPI (Paytm) account was hacked and the money debited, according to the complaint.

A police officer said that while a case under the Information Technology Act and IPC sections pertaining to cheating had been opened, they were investigating whether Kapoor knew Sharma before.

The fact that he mentioned her grandfather would be perplexing if he were a total stranger, the officer added.

Lavanya refused to comment when DH contacted her.