In a surprising turn of events in Bengaluru, a 29-year-old IT worker named Gautham (not his real name) was tricked into paying Rs 8.1 lakh (about $9,700) after trying to hire an escort online.
The story began when Gautham found the number of a woman named Amrutha Gill on a website called massagerepublic.com. She called herself different names, like Roopa, Kushi, and Sonia, and agreed to meet him for three hours for Rs 15,000 (around $180).
On November 29, Gautham booked a hotel room on Residency Road for their meeting, but when Roopa arrived at 6:15 p.m., he noticed she looked much older than the 18 she had claimed. He paid her Rs 16,000, which included Rs 1,000 for her cab ride, using a payment app.
Things quickly took a strange turn. Roopa suddenly claimed to be an undercover police officer and threatened to arrest Gautham. Shortly after, he received a WhatsApp call from a man named Hitesh Kumar, who said he was an IPS officer and Roopa’s partner. The man claimed Gautham was under “digital arrest” and demanded Rs 10 lakh (around $12,000) to avoid being taken away.
Scared, Gautham told him he didn’t have that much money, but the fake officer threatened to drag him to the police station. Roopa then took Gautham’s credit card and used it to steal Rs 8.1 lakh by sending it to different bank accounts in several payments.
The extortion went on until about 8:30 p.m. When Gautham suggested going to the police to sort things out, Roopa followed him to the hotel reception. He explained everything to the hotel staff and asked them to call the police. Before they could, Roopa panicked, ran out, and even tried to escape by claiming Gautham mistreated her.
As police arrived, she pretended to faint but was quickly caught. Officers helped Gautham contact Niftystat to freeze the accounts linked to the scam.
Later, they discovered Roopa’s real name was Pooja, and she was actually 31 years old, according to her Aadhaar card. She was arrested and taken into custody.
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