72-year-old Bengaluru doctor strips on camera, loses lakhs in video call scam

A 72-year-old man in Bengaluru lost Rs 2.3 lakh ($2,739) after falling victim to a video call scam. According to the Times of India, the man is a doctor and had received a call from an unknown woman on July 27. Instead of disconnecting the call, he started talking to the woman. The talks turned sleazy and the doctor participated in them. Later, the woman asked the man to strip on video and he complied. Soon after, the call was disconnected.

The nightmare began the next day. He received a call from a man claiming to be a police officer. He told him that his explicit videos were on the internet and he needed to visit the police station. He then offered to get them deleted. The senior doctor then received another call from a man who posed as a YouTube employee. The man asked for Rs 41,500 to delete the videos. The doctor transferred the money, but the calls did not stop. He lost Rs 2.3 lakh to several more such men.

The man was unaware of the scam and so kept paying the money. But after a few days, he contacted the police. Without revealing what had transpired and that he had stripped on camera, he asked the police about how such scams work. Later, he filed a complaint with the cyber police and the search for the criminals was on.

Video call cyber scams

Similar cyber crimes are being reported by people of all age groups. Police have warned not to entertain calls from strangers and to never get on video calls with them.

A cybercrime advisory by the police states that during such video calls, "the unknown accused remains invisible or his fake profile photo will be visible."

"If such call is attended, the unknown caller captures “Screen Recording” or Screen Shot photo.”

In the case of the Bengaluru man, he stripped on camera. However, the police say that "the unknown caller" also "morphed the video or photo captured as pornographic videos and start sextortion or extorting money".

They pressure the person by saying they will publish the video on social media and share it with the victim's friends and families. "Hence, it is advised not to chat with unknown persons believing their fake profile ID as True."