Cab Drive Used Morphed Photos To Extort From 24 Women, Arrested

Covid induced lockdown forced many to lose their job. The increasing unemployment has also resulted in crime. The proof is a recent incident of a cab driver, who was arrested for allegedly blackmailing and hacking women's social media accounts. 

The cab driver extorted money from at least 24 women by hacking their social media accounts and threatening to upload their morphed photographs on porn websites. The cab driver is identified as Vinod Kishanrao Mundhe, also known as Ajay. Mundhe first started blackmailing women during the Covid lockdown, as per police. For him, it became his only source of income. The 25-year-old is said to be a resident of Gautam Nagar in Parbhani district. 

Cab Drive Blackmailed Women With Morphed Photos

In a report by HindustanTimes, police inspector Santosh Dhanavate pointed out that Mundhe hacked accounts using links. He would send messages with links to the women's Facebook accounts. Dhanavate said, “Once having access to the Facebook accounts of the unsuspecting girls and women, he would send the links to their friends and hack their accounts as well." 

As per the police, the accused after hacking used the photos and videos for morphing. He used morphed photos to threaten women of putting pictures on porn sites. He demanded money to remove them from the site.  

The money demanded would be as meager as ₹5,000 to ₹10,000. As per the police, he accepted lesser amounts so that women may not report the incident. However, three women filed the case and the accused was arrested from Latur in Maharashtra. Rahul Patil, police sub-inspector, said, "Two women from Sindhudurg district and one from Mumbai registered cases against the Mundhe." On investigation, it was revealed he has extorted 24 women so far. He has been booked under various sections of cheating, and the Information Technology Act.

Cybercrime against women is increasing. Earlier, women lost money while booking doctor's appointments online. In another case, A woman from Gujarat lodged a complaint about her Instagram profile photo being morphed with nude pictures and posted on Facebook. In a case from Delhi, a man was arrested for harassing women on social media under a female identity. He circulated their morphed photos online on the rejection of proposals. 

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