Aroh Welankar’s FB page compromised; actor seeks cops’ help

On Saturday night, Aroh Welankar received a message on Facebook from someone he didn’t know personally. Thinking it was a fan, Aroh replied with a courtesy message. What followed though, wasn’t a pleasant experience for the

Hostel Days

actor.

“Soon after I replied, I got a video call from the person via Messenger. The call got answered in a haste by me, but for 15 seconds, I was just looking at a blank screen, post which I disconnected the call,” shares Aroh, adding, “Sometime later, I started getting calls from an unknown number on WhatsApp. I picked up the first time and the person on the other end started threatening me saying they had an objectionable video of mine that they would release online.”

Aroh immediately blocked the number, but then he got a regular call from another number saying they had sent him the video that they had. “When I went back on WhatsApp and checked, they actually had shared a video with me,” says the

Rege

actor. This was a morphed video that had Aroh’s face for the first few seconds after which an explicit clip was stitched into the video. Aroh shares, “The person on the line called again and said they planned to post this video on social media and send it to my contacts. Fortunately, I didn’t yield to the blackmail, deactivated my FB account immediately and informed the police.”
It was after speaking to the

Pune police

’s cybercrime officials that Aroh got to know about this racket. “The cops told me that this is the standard modus operandi of these miscreants. They threaten people saying they’ll release objectionable videos. If you fall prey to this and tell them not to do so, they’ll blackmail you for money,” says Aroh.

While Aroh reported this to the cops and lodged an official complaint, not everyone does so. He shares, “Many a times, we get scared and fall prey to blackmailers like these. The reason I posted about this on my other social media accounts is because I want to create awareness and urge people to report such cases to the police so that necessary action can be taken. The cops have been very helpful and they’ve told me not to worry. I have lodged a complaint, and anybody who possesses this video or circulates it will be held responsible in the crime.”

COP SPEAKS:Often, such cases go unreported due to the fear of stigma. However, the police have urged people to take onus and come forward to file reports.

Bhagyashree Navtake

,

DCP

(EOW and Cyber), Pune Police, told us, “This has become a very common mode of operation where such miscreants target popular personalities. There’s been an increase in such cases and our investigation is on the right track to prevent this from happening. At the same time, we want to tell everyone to be cautious – don’t pick up unknown calls, be a little aware about what’s happening around and, most importantly, report such instances to us. Our phone and email address is operational 24x7.” To report cyber crimes, you can call on 02029710097 or send an email to crimecyber.pune@nic.in