New Delhi, June 8 -- Delhi Police has arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly using AI-generated morphed images to blackmail young women and extort money through social media platforms, an official said on Monday.
According to police, the accused, identified as Sourav, a resident of Bhalaswa Dairy in north Delhi, was apprehended on June 4. He was previously involved in two cases related to extortion, sexual harassment and stalking.
Police said he would target young women on social media by posing as a job provider. After gaining their trust and obtaining their resumes, he allegedly persuaded them to participate in video verification calls.
Screenshots from these calls were then manipulated using AI-based tools to create obscene images, which were used to threaten victims and extort money.
The case came to light after a 19-year-old woman from Malkaganj lodged a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), alleging that she had been blackmailed by an unknown person using manipulated photographs. According to police, the complainant received a message from the accused containing a morphed image of her. He allegedly instructed her to communicate through a social media account
operating under the name "Lakshay Garg" and demanded Rs 30,000 in exchange for deleting the image.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.