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Bengaluru Police Probe AI Deepfake Sextortion After Techie Loses Rs 1.5 Lakh

Police have opened a cybercrime case, citing a surge in dating‑app sextortion using synthetic video.

Overview

  • A 22-year-old cloud engineer from Ejipura reported being blackmailed after a video call with a profile he met on the dating app Happn.
  • The chat moved to WhatsApp, where the caller coaxed him to undress on video and secretly recorded the interaction.
  • Threats to share the intimate footage led the victim to transfer Rs 60,000, then Rs 93,000 by January 6 to a bank account and two UPI IDs.
  • The central cybercrime police station registered a case under the Information Technology Act and Section 308 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for extortion.
  • Investigators suspect an AI-generated deepfake was used to lure the victim, have begun tracing the accused, and warned of rising dating-app linked sextortion.