Mumbai: Minor held for extorting actor

Mumbai: A sixteen-year old was detained by the Goregaon police for allegedly trying to extort a television actress.

The teen had hacked her Facebook, iCloud and Instagram accounts and downloaded private pictures of the actress and later threatened her, saying he would make her pictures viral on social media and demanded a sum of Rs 5 lakh from the victim. The police has booked the boy under the IT Act and Section 385 (Putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) of the IPC.

According to police sources from Bangur Nagar police station, TV actress Tina Chopra approached the police on December 25 and said an unknown person, since December 16, had been sending her pictures of her own on her whatsapp number and was threatening to circulate these picture on social media and news media and demanding '5 lakh.

The actress told officials that the blackmailer sent her a bank account number too, to deposit money in the account. Officials checking the account number discovered it was a State Bank of India account in Chhattisgarh.

According to sources, the accused had sent a phishing mail to the actress a few days ago and when the actress clicked the link given on the mail, the teen hacked her Facebook, Instagram and I-cloud accounts and got her Whatsapp number too. Shortly after, he started texting her and demanded extortion money of '5 lakh for not circulating the pictures. The boy hails from Chhattisgarh and had come to Mumbai five months ago in search for job and to continue his studies.