Woman teams up with her boyfriend to honeytrap men

A woman deserted by her husband ganged up with her boyfriend and his friend to honeytrap gullible men and extort money from them.

Arpitha B N, 22, her 25-year-old boyfriend Pavan Kumar, 25, and his 45-year-old friend, Siddhartha, were arrested by the Soladevanahalli police following a complaint by a grocery shop owner.

Arpitha lured the victims by opening accounts on social networking sites with her fake profile pictures. She would send friend requests to different men and invite them over. Once the victim came home, she would lock the door and seduce him. At the same time, she would signal Pavan and Siddhartha.

The duo, as per a pre-planned strategy, would barge into the house by posing as a police officer and as a news reporter. They would go on to rob him. They would also threaten to frame him in an immoral trafficking case and send him to jail. The gang robbed a number of people by using this modus operandi, a senior police officer said.

The gang, however, ran out of luck after a grocery shop owner, one of their victims, went to the police. According to his complaint, Arpitha took groceries from him and promised to pay later. She invited him over on the pretext of making the payment. Pavan and Siddhartha barged into the house and robbed him of gold jewellery worth Rs 1.3 lakh by threatening him. They also forced him to withdraw Rs 55,000 from an ATM on July 31.

They later blackmailed him, saying they had clicked and filmed him during his "intimate moments" with Arpitha. They threatened to upload the photos and videos to social media if he didn't pay up Rs 1 lakh.

Police investigation showed that Arpitha had married a relative five years ago but her husband deserted her. She then moved to Bengaluru and befriended Pavan. The couple came up with the idea of honeytrapping people to make a quick buck. Pavan roped in his friend, Siddhartha, who posed as a policeman.