Mumbai: The Nagpur police have uncovered a new cyber-crime tactic where scammers impersonate bank officials, record the victim’s voice during a call, and use it to create fake obscene audio notes.

These are paired with nude photographs of a woman and used to extort money from the victim. A 24-year-old Nagpur resident recently fell prey to this scheme, losing Rs 7.17 lakh across multiple transactions.

On October 6, the complainant received a call from someone claiming to be from his bank for address verification. Shortly after, he was sent a nude photograph of a woman along with an obscene audio note featuring his voice via Telegram. The sender demanded money, threatening to share the material with his contacts and on social media.

The complainant initially transferred money to a UPI ID provided by the scammer and blocked their number, but continued receiving similar threats from other Telegram accounts. Between October 6 and November 20, the complainant was coerced into paying Rs 7.17 lakh.

Overwhelmed, he confided in his family, who urged him to report the crime to the police, resulting in a case being registered under sections 318 (cheating), 351 (criminal intimidation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.