Three in Noida cheat people with a massage parlour offer, held - Times of India

[Avishek Kumar]

Noida: Three persons were arrested from Parthala overbridge for allegedly cheating people under the pretext of a massage parlour.
Shivam Sharma, Rohit Kumar from Mamura and Rajan from Gurgaon are accused of running an extortion scheme through a fraudulent massage parlour listing on a local search engine and collecting advance payments from customers but not providing the promised services. Their female associate is still at large.
A senior police officer said on Saturday, a person made a complaint that a gang was demanding Rs 25,000 from him after he contacted a woman for a body massage. The suspects allegedly threatened to distribute compromising photographs of the complainant taken secretly during the massage.
An FIR was registered against unknown persons under the section of 308 (2) (extortion) of BNS.
Shakti Mohan Avasthi, DCP Central Noida, said that these three accused listed "Royal Massage Therapy Sec 70" on the Just Dial app.
Upon booking a woman for a massage, accused Shivam and Rohit would call back the ‘customer', promising them good service. Their associate Rajan would take the booked girl to the specified location. If the caller would be alone, the accused would take a photo with the girl and try to extort money.
However, if someone called them to a hotel or undisclosed location, they would reach the spot with the girl and then demand money, threatening to defame the victim. In some cases, they secretly recorded massage videos to extort money, the DCP said.
"The group was active for a year, typically demanding modest sums, believing victims would avoid reporting to authorities due to fear of social stigma," police said.
Five mobile phones were recovered from the accused possession in which police found objectionable photos and videos of the customers.