Gitte said, “The shopkeeper saw an online advertisement offering loans after running an online search in June. The fraudsters contacted him after he clicked on the advertisement and promised him a loan at a very low interest rate.”According to the police, the suspects told the shopkeeper to fill up an online form and sought his pictures. The victim, as directed, shared his pictures as well as his details in the online form.The suspects then morphed his photographs and threatened to upload his obscene images on social media sites, tagging his relatives and friends, if he did meet their demand for money. They allegedly shared three different bank accounts with him and the victim transferred Rs 41.2 lakh.The police said the shopkeeper not only exhausted all his savings to meet the fraudsters’ demand, he had to borrow money from his family members and friends to pay the suspects.
