Hyderabad: The Cybercrime police arrested a 26-year-old engineer, formerly working in the US, for running a ‘sextortion’ scandal targeting victims abroad. The police have seized devices from the accused Riddh Bedi, a resident of Brookefield, Bengaluru. The accused organised a fraud using dating websites to lure victims into compromising situations and extort money.
According to the cybercrime police, a complainant reported that Bedi had blackmailed his son residing in California, USA, and extorted $1,721 from him. The accused posed as a woman on a dating platform and lured the victim into sharing personal information and sensitive images. Using this information, the accused threatened to expose the victim to his social circle unless the ransom was paid.
The victim made several transactions to an Indian mobile number linked to accounts in diffent banks. After the victim stopped responding, the accused escalated the threats by sending obscene messages to the victim’s family and workplace, further traumatising the victim.
"The accused, Riddh Bedi, is a former product designer. He turned to online scams after losing his job to support his lavish lifestyle. He created fake profiles on dating websites like Seeking.com, using stolen images of women to lure unsuspecting victims into sending sensitive photos. Once he obtained these images, he blackmailed the victims, threatening to release the compromising content unless they paid large sums of money," police said.
To facilitate the transfer of these funds from the US to India, Bedi instructed the victims to use online payment platforms, including Zelle, (which is commonly used in the US for transferring funds quickly and easily). The money was later routed to his Indian bank accounts. To avoid detection, the accused used multiple phone numbers, email addresses and social media platforms.
The investigation also revealed that Bedi studied his MS in mechanical engineering in California, USA, and lived there for six years. He was addicted to action role-playing games (RPGs) and battle royale games. The accused resides alone at one of the lavish villas located in a prime area in Bengaluru, paying a rent of Rs 75,000 per month.
