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Hyderabad: A 23-year-old software engineer from Narsingi in Hyderabad allegedly lost Rs 9.2 lakh to cyber fraudsters in a sextortion scam after they recorded a brief video call and threatened to circulate an edited clip among his family and friends.

According to a complaint lodged with the Cyberabad Cybercrime Police, the victim received a WhatsApp video call from an unknown number on July 3.

The complainant told police that an unidentified woman on the call suddenly began undressing and urged him to do the same. The call lasted only about 15 seconds before it was disconnected.

Soon afterwards, another person called from the same number and shared an edited video clip of the interaction, threatening to circulate it among the victim’s contacts unless he paid money. The fraudster allegedly sent the clip to the victim’s sister through Instagram as part of the intimidation.

Police said the accused deleted the clip sent to the victim’s sister after receiving Rs 82,000, but continued to demand more money, claiming it was required to remove the video from the victim’s phone and other platforms. The fraudsters also allegedly sought additional payments to delete chat messages exchanged with the victim.

Fearing the video would be circulated, the victim transferred a total of Rs 9.2 lakh to the fraudsters between July 3 and July 7.

Realising he had been cheated, the victim reported the incident through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and subsequently approached the Cyberabad Cybercrime Police on July 8.

Case registered

Police have registered a case under Sections 308(2) (extortion) and 318(4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act. An investigation is underway.