FAISALABAD: Two men were arrested on charges of extorting thousands of rupees by blackmailing an elderly man on social media.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Cyber Crime Wing arrested Zeeshan and Javed Hussain, a rickshaw driver, from Attock on the complaint of Abid Hussain of Razaabad.

The complainant told the agency that the suspects had befriended his 70-year-old uncle on a social networking website by posing as a girl, Sidra. After gaining the uncle’s confidence, the suspects asked for the uncle’s phone number and also obtained his objectionable videos and pictures.

Later, they started blackmailing him that the pictures and videos would be uploaded on social media if he did not pay them. The suspects extorted a total of Rs64,000 over various occasions in their private bank account as well as mobile accounts.

During preliminary investigation, FIA officials said Zeeshan posed as Sidra Jabeen and targeted people. He would also use a voice changer to send voice message to his targets. They said the suspect was also targeting other individuals whose chats with him were found on his mobile phones, which were seized.

Zeeshan also played the PUBG online game, sold game codes and used the victims’ accounts for parking funds. His gaming account names were Muhammad Madni, Nuzhat Bukhari and Jawad Hussain.

Both the suspects were found involved in offences like impersonation on social media, blackmailing, harassment, threatening and extortion, the FIA officials added.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2021