New Delhi: Cyber Police branch of north-east Delhi arrested a man for allegedly impersonating Spanish actor Manu Rios to trap young girls on social media, said the officials on Wednesday. The accused has been identified as Abbuzar Rehman (22). The accused tried extorting money as he threatened to leak pictures of these girls.
Private pictures, extortion saga
"A complaint was registered at the Cyber police station through the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Cyber Crime reporting portal, alleging the accused of extorting money from her and threatening to make her pictures viral on social media. Based on the complaint, a case was registered at PS Cyber North and an investigation was taken up. The police arrested the accused on Monday," the police said.
The police recovered three sim cards, one memory card and two mobile phones used in the offence.
Spanish actor's identity
It was alleged that the accused introduced himself to the complainant as a small-time Spanish actor. After some time, she became his friend and shared her private pictures with him.
Fake Instagram profile created using victim's private picture
As per reports, Abbuzar started demanding money from her threatening to make her pictures viral on social media. When the complainant did not budge from his demands, the accused made a fake ID of the complainant, using one of her private photos and shared the same with the complainant to threaten her.
IP address tracking
The police said that during the investigation, details of the alleged Instagram profile were obtained and based on the same, IP addresses and mobile numbers used in the registration of the alleged profile were received. "These IP addresses were sent to concerned mobile operators, from where the mobile number and IMEI No. used in the offence were found and the identity of the alleged person was ascertained," the police officials added.
The accused has been served with a notice under section 41 A of CRPC, following the guidelines laid by Supreme Court in the Arnesh Kumar V/s State case.
Accused reveals modus operandi
Abbuzar Rehman during interrogation revealed that he made a fake Instagram ID using Manu Rios's photographs to grab the attention of young women and started sending messages to these women. He also translated during his course of interaction as he didn't know the English language well. "Subsequently, he contacted the complainant and asked her to share her photos. He then saved these photos in his phone and planned to extort money from the complainant," the police added. Further investigations are underway.
(with ANI inputs)