Pune city police have launched a probe after a city-based builder received extortion emails demanding 60 bitcoins and threatening to circulate his private images on failing to do so, officers said.
An FIR has been registered at Shivajinagar police station by an employee of the builder’s firm. The police have invoked various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including those pertaining to extortion, and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
Investigators said multiple messages were sent to the official company email between November 27 and 30. “In the first mail, the sender claimed that they have some private images of the builder and threatened to circulate them. When the complainant employee informed the builder about the email, he asked her to ignore the mail saying that it was possibly mischief,” said an officer from Shivajinagar police station.
“But subsequent emails had some of the builder’s private images with a demand of 60 bitcoins before a deadline and threatened to circulate those images on failing to meet the demand. The sender shared the details of a cryptocurrency wallet and asked for an immediate transfer of five bitcoins to start with. The builder then approached the cyber crime cell of the Pune city police,” the officer added.
When contacted, inspector Vikram Gaud of Shivajinagar police station said, “After the case was referred to us by the cyber crime cell, an FIR was registered and a probe was launched.”
