A 29-year-old IT professional from Electronics City, Bengaluru was extorted Rs 8.1 lakh after booking an escort service online (Bengaluru techie scammed by escort) .

The incident came to light when the victim, Gautam (name changed), contacted a woman through a portal and fell into the extortion trap.

According to information obtained by Times of India, Gautam, who works in a private firm, found the number of an escort named Amrita Gill on a website called massagerepublic.com. The woman, who introduced herself with various names such as Roopa, Kushi and Sonia, agreed to meet him for three hours for a price of Rs 15,000.

Escort gang extorted Rs 8.1 lakh

On November 29, Gautam booked a hotel room on Residency Road, where Roopa arrived at 6:15 pm. Gautam realised that she was 30 years old, while she had earlier claimed to be 18. He paid her Rs 16,000 through a digital payment app, which included Rs 1,000 cab fare.

However, matters worsened when Roopa claimed she was an undercover police officer and threatened to arrest him. Soon after, Gautam received a WhatsApp audio call from a man who introduced himself as Hitesh Kumar, an "IPS officer" and Roopa's colleague. The caller's display picture showed a man in police uniform.

Rupa snatches Gautam's phone and puts the call on speaker.

The accused had demanded Rs 10 lakh

According to Gautam, Kumar told the victim that he had been digitally arrested and demanded Rs 10 lakh to avoid arrest.

I told him I didn’t have that much money. He threatened to take me to the police station,” Gautam told The Times of India (TOI).

Roopa transferred ₹8.1 lakh to multiple accounts in multiple instalments using Gautam's credit card and details of two other people. The extortion continued till 8.30 pm. When Gautam suggested going to the police station to settle the matter, Roopa followed him to the hotel reception.

Police arrested the female accused

There Gautam told the hotel staff everything and asked them to call the police helpline. Rupa disconnected the call and tried to run away. Coming out she took off her clothes and accused Gautam of misbehaving with her, she even bit Gautam's hand while trying to escape.

As soon as Roopa saw the police arriving, she pretended to faint and then quickly got into the police vehicle. The officers helped Gautam contact the 1930 cyber helpline to freeze the accounts to which the money was transferred.

Further investigation revealed that Roopa, identified as Puja, was 31 years old as per the Aadhaar card found with her. She was arrested and taken into custody.

A senior police officer confirmed the arrest and said the woman has been taken into custody.