A man in New Delhi has been taken into custody for his involvement in cyber harassment, as per a statement from a police official on Monday. The 22-year-old individual is accused of blackmailing and tormenting a woman by generating artificial intelligence-produced explicit images of her.
The arrest transpired subsequent to the discovery of a QR code connected to a noodles seller, who had been instructed to accept payments from the complainant via the code. Identified as Nikhil and residing in Nand Nagari, he was apprehended by the cyber police of Southwest district, stated the officer.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Surendra Choudhary articulated that the culprit resorted to counterfeit images as a means of extracting money and intimidating the victim, emphasizing the alarming exploitation of artificial intelligence in cyber crimes. Using sophisticated AI technology, the accused distorted the complainant’s profile photo on a social media platform to generate sexually explicit images which were then relayed to her via the platform’s “one-time-view” function, preventing her from retaining the content.
The complainant, a college student, registered a formal grievance at the Cyber South West police station on January 6, citing harassment, threats, and extortion. As per her account, she received a follow request and a direct message on a social media platform from an account posing as a female. Although the user behind the account initiated affable conversations, the exchanges took a sinister turn, said the police.
The accused disseminated manipulated explicit images and videos of the victim and demanded monetary compensation. By leveraging the threat of publicizing the distorted images on social media platforms and sharing them with her family members, the suspect caused immense distress and anxiety to the victim, as per the DCP.
Upon confiding in her parents, who urged her to seek assistance from the authorities, a case was lodged and a probe initiated. Scrutinizing the chat records from both parties unveiled the accused’s ploy of masquerading as a woman to establish trust with the victim, as per the officer. It was disclosed that the suspect employed an AI-driven application to distort the victim’s profile picture, leading to the creation of explicit content.
Through technical monitoring and insights furnished by Meta, law enforcement managed to track the suspect’s movements by tracing the phone number associated with the counterfeit social media account. His whereabouts were identified in Harsh Vihar in Northeast Delhi.
The investigation exposed that the accused had shared a QR code with the victim for the purpose of transactions. This QR code was linked to a local noodle vendor situated close to the suspect’s residence. Subsequently, a police team executed a raid at the suspect’s location, detained him, and seized a smartphone believed to be involved in the illicit activities.
Nikhil, described as a Class-8 dropout with a proclivity for socializing with friends, had created a bogus social media account in 2023 for recreational interactions with women online. Gradually, he devised a scheme to extort money using the sham account, targeting unsuspecting individuals such as the complainant, as per law enforcement officials. Even after the victim blocked his account, Nikhil persisted in harassing her through multiple fraudulent accounts.
This news article has been compiled from an automated news agency feed, with no alterations made to the original text.