Hyderabad: An alert bank manager and quick police response prevented a 66-year-old retiree from losing more money in a sextortion racket. The victim had already lost ₹18 lakh to fraudsters before police intervened and froze a fresh transaction of ₹2 lakh.At around 3 pm on Thursday, the retiree from AS Rao Nagar visited a Bank of Baroda branch in the locality and transferred ₹2 lakh to an unknown account. Noticing that he appeared anxious and distressed, the branch manager suspected that he could be a victim of a digital arrest scam and immediately alerted Kushaiguda inspector Sandeep.The inspector alerted a team led by detective inspector G Venkateshwarlu. The police rushed to the bank, obtained the victim’s details and then visited his house.The victim told police that he had received a nude video call from an unknown person on Facebook on Oct 5. “The fraudsters screen-recorded the call. Claiming that the video was already on YouTube, X and Instagram, they demanded money to remove it. The victim also received calls from fraudsters posing as police officers,” Kushaiguda police said.The accused demanded ₹30 lakh to remove the content and prevent legal action. The victim had already paid ₹18 lakh.As the victim had ₹80 lakh in deposits, police acted quickly and froze the latest ₹2 lakh transaction.“The victim was counselled, and an FIR will be registered on Friday,” Venkateshwarulu said.
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