Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh):

Sextortion Scams Decline in Bhopal but Still Claim Lives Across India

At a time when online share trading scams are increasing and digital arrest frauds are less reported, sextortion cases have virtually disappeared from records for past two years.

According to police sources, no sextortion case has been formally reported in the city during this period. This marks a sharp contrast to previous years, when cyber fraudsters extensively used sextortion to blackmail victims and extort money.

Sextortion once affected all classes of people, from high-profile individuals to students, with many falling prey to carefully orchestrated online traps. However, officials believe that the actual number of past cases was significantly higher than reported as many victims chose to remain silent due to social stigma and fear of public shame. In several instances across the state, the psychological pressure and repeated blackmail even drove victims to commit suicide.

Cyber police officials attribute the decline in sextortion cases primarily to increased public awareness. Continuous reporting and awareness campaigns have made people more cautious, reducing their vulnerability to such traps. Additional DCP Shailendra Singh Chauhan said that cyber criminals frequently changed their modus operandi.

"Fraudsters keep shifting strategies because one method does not remain effective for long. After sextortion became widely known, they moved to tactics like digital arrest scams and now online share trading frauds. Cyber criminal networks are constantly evolving, targeting victims through new tactics that appear more convincing and urgent," he added.

What is sextortion?

Sextortion is a form of cybercrime where fraudsters lure victims, often through fake profiles of young women on social media, into intimate video calls. These calls are secretly recorded and later used to blackmail victims. The fraudsters threaten to circulate the explicit content or pose as crime branch officials to extort money. Victims are pressured into making repeated payments to prevent the alleged viral spread of such videos.

Past cases where victims ended life

• June 2024: Government teacher Suresh Chaurasia in Chhindwara allegedly committed suicide after being harassed through sextortion, which he mentioned in the suicide note.
• September 2022: Retired flying officer Vilas Dalvi in Indore took his own life. Police later found sextortion-related evidence in his phone. In the same month, a student in Gwalior also committed suicide under similar circumstances.