Hyderabad: Woman held for extorting money from men on dating websites

Hyderabad: A woman who allegedly created fake profiles of herself on dating websites and who used private conversations to blackmail and extort money from men has been arrested.    

Battu Rajeshwari, 40, was arrested on Thursday by Cyberabad police. Officials say Rajeshwari was able to extort thousands from the men who had communicated with her via chat. It’s believed she blackmailed her victims with screenshots of private conversations which she said she would make public.

Rajeshwari was active on websites such as twoo.com and police said she was primarily targeting techies in the city. Cops have so far received complaints from three separate victims. According to authorities, one of the victims, a software engineer from Pragathi Nagar, had lodged a complaint on November 4 claiming he had met a woman named Cuty on twoo.com.

After a few days of conversation, the techie claimed she made him book movie tickets and had even connected with him on social media. The victim said there had been an exchange of private photos. On October 28, it’s alleged that the woman called him demanding Rs 3,500. She said she would make public the conversations between them along with the photos. And after the transfer of the sum, the woman called up the techie again demanding an extra Rs 50,000. .   

According to cops, they have received two other similar complaints. It’s now believed that Cuty was in fact, Rajeshwari. “She had fake profiles across dating websites and social media. She used them to trap men and blackmail them,” Inspector E. Venkat Reddy, of the Cyber Crimes division, said. Police has also provided a phone number — 9490617347 — for potential victims to reach out on.