Jaipur, Aug 5 (IANS): The Alwar Police in Rajasthan have busted a racket that was allegedly involved in blackmailing people through 'sextortion' and 'cat phishing'.

A police officer said that eight accused have been arrested in this connection on Wednesday, most of whom are 10th-12th pass. Two among them are truck drivers.

These accused have also cheated people in the US.

An NRI staying in Texas has been duped of Rs 1.5 lakh. Overall, the gang has duped people of Rs 15 crore. This gang reportedly was expert in opening fake bank accounts, issuing fake mobile SIM cards and cheating from ATMs.

The arrested accused are residents of Kot village in Dausa and Shastri Nagar in Jaipur.

The accused, through sextortion, made recordings via a screen recorder by showing pornographic videos and then used to extort money by blackmailing them which were deposited in fake accounts and were withdrawn from different ATMs.

Similarly, by cat phishing, they used to befriend innocent and unaware individuals in the guise of women and then used to chat with them and later blackmailed them.

Alwar SP Tejaswani Gautam said that police acted on a tip off and caught the accused red-handed as they carried a chat on their phone with the informer.

Police took the help of technical cell and stopped a car passing nearby which had the two accused sitting inside.

On checking their video, it was clear that the accused were involved in crime. When interrogated, they revealed the names of other gang members.

The gang, in fact, was demanding money from the American NRI even after duping him for about Rs 1.5 lakh from him. An objectionable video of the man was also made.