A 23-year-old man in Delhi, Tushar Bisht, has been arrested for apparently extorting a sum of money from 700 women he reportedly targeted on various social media networks, including Bumble and Snapchat. Using such fake profiles posing as a US-based freelance model while using photos from a Brazilian model and a virtual international mobile number, Bisht reportedly deceived most of his targets.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vichitra Veer said that Bisht created elaborate fake identities to connect with women aged 18 to 30 on platforms such as Bumble, Snapchat, and WhatsApp. “Once he gained their trust, he would persuade them to share private photos and videos, which he later used to blackmail them,” the DCP stated. He threatened to splash the sensitive material online or sell it on the dark web unless his victims paid him. The extortion racket came to light on December 13 when a Delhi University student lodged a complaint with the cyber police.
The victim recalled that she had met Bisht on Bumble, where he posed as a US-based model visiting India for work. After blackmailing her with private photos and videos through Snapchat and WhatsApp, he started blackmailing her. The victim repeatedly informed her family and sought help from the authorities after being blackmailed for money.
Bisht, a BBA graduate and technical recruiter at a private firm in Noida, confessed to having used the scheme for financial gains after starting it for amusement. The police recovered incriminating material, including private content, 13 credit cards, and other evidence, from his arrest in Shakarpur. He hails from a middle-class family, with his father being a driver, mother a homemaker, and sister working in Gurugram. He had been running this operation for more than two years, wherein he was using an app to get a virtual international mobile number to do all his frauds, as reported by the police.
