Honey-Trap Gangs Target Male Senior Citizens, ‘We Look For Rich @60…’ News24 –

Hey you all senior citizens, male, beware of the oldest con game in the business – making a sucker out of you with a classic Honey trap bait. It all starts with a random missed phone call, that plays on your curiosity, and then as they say curiosity killed the cat.

And in this case, the cat is you, like this senior citizen from Gurgram found it out, much to his dismay and possible damage to his reputation as a good citizen. The victim, a 60-plus male, wealthy and well-settled, who preferred to remain anonymous, shared his experience with News24.

Next time any one of you receive an intriguing call, it may be a good idea to play safe, check the number through any tools available before responding to any call from an unknown number. Best, of course, is to avoid taking such calls, the victim who is wiser post his traumatic experience would advise fellow senior citizens. 

In his case, he got lucky, as his daughter took the culprits to task, filed a police case furnishing evidences in the form of call recordings and call records. Advocate and activist Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj helped this family with legal advice and filing the FIR leading to the arrest of three persons – one man and two women – on charges of extortion and cheating. 

The FIR was filed on August 28, that led to the arrest of three persons on charges of extortion from a senior citizen. In this case from Gurgaon, like most other incidents of sexual extortion, a missed call from an unknown number intrigued the alleged victim, a widower, who later responded to the call, and it led to two women befriending him. The first missed call came on May 24, 2025, according to the FIR the victim lodged with Palam Vihar police station. After friendly chatting, the ladies persuaded the victim to meet them in person. A meeting took place on June 4. 

A couple of friendly conversations with him, the ladies visited his place one day, lured him to get intimate with one of them and left after sometime. Allegedly they said, place saying “kaam ho gaya, evidence mil gaya” (work is over, we have got the evidence) and left.

And within no time, the senior citizen started receiving extortion calls from these ladies, demanding a payment of Rs 10 lakhs or face a case of rape. When he refused to comply, the lady filed a rape case against the victim. 

It was then that the family of the senior citizen called on DCP Gurgaon West Karan Goel, who listened to their plight and how they were threatened with dire consequences if they did not comply with their demands. 

The call recordings were submitted as proof of their story. DCP Goel told News24 on Monday “that though not a trend, even this one off case is an example of how senior citizens could become targets of such extortions. In such cases we advise those who claim they were victims, to record conversations and bring some proof to the police, so that we can take action.:

“Often people don’t come to police with their complaints out of shame. But, if one is facing such harassment and illegal demands, the best course would be to approach the police with voice recordings, like this victim from Palam Vihar had done.”

“Yes, now the three persons – a local advocate and two women — were arrested and later remanded in judicial custody,” Goel said.  According to the FIR, the final demand was scaled down to Rs 6.5 lakhs.

Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj, men’s rights activist & Director, Ekam Nyaay Foundation told News24 that” Honey trap gangs are now making senior citizen men their targets. Modus operandi is to meet the man once and then threaten him with a false rape case. Most people give in to these extortion because of shame. In this case however, the family decided to fight and complain and we extended our full support. We met DCP Gurgaon and then filed a complaint with Smt. Renu Bhatia, Chairperson Haryana State Women Commission. She acknowledged the rise of such gangs in Haryana, took cognisance of the case and ensured action. I am thankful to Gurgaon Police for taking swift action in this case and registering a case against these people”