Bengaluru: a Hebbal police head constable says a stranger who contacted him through a Facebook friend request used AI tools to turn his old Facebook photographs into obscene images and videos, then demanded money and threatened to send them to his superiors and post them online; police register an extortion and IT Act case (16-18 September 2026)
A head constable at Hebbal police station in Bengaluru complained that on 16 September 2026 he accepted a Facebook friend request from an unknown account and exchanged sexually explicit messages with it over Messenger. According to his complaint, reported by the Times of India, the person behind the account downloaded his old Facebook photographs and used AI tools to make morphed obscene images and videos showing him with women, sent them to him with a QR code, demanded money in return for deleting them and threatened to send them to senior police officers and post them on social media, warning that this would damage his reputation. The harassment continued until 18 September. He gave police copies of the messages and the morphed images. Hebbal police registered a case under IT Act sections 66E and 67A and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 308 (extortion) and 351 (criminal intimidation), took steps to stop the material being uploaded and are trying to trace the account holder. Whether he paid is not reported, and no arrest is reported.
- AI system
- Unidentified image and video tool
- Occurred
- 16 Sept 2026 to 18 Sept 2026
- Reported
- 27 September 2026
- Event location
- India
- What the AI did
- Depicted or impersonated the person
- Reported harm
- Exploitation or Abuse
- Whose AI use
- Someone else’s AI use
- Setting
- Privacy · Work · Everyday life
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
- 2 claims: 2 reported. 4 open questions
- People reported harmed
- 1 person
AI system as recorded: Unidentified AI tools the complainant says were used to make morphed obscene images and videos from his Facebook photographs (Times of India)
What Happened
The Times of India (Bengaluru, 27 September 2026) reports the head constable's complaint, which a senior officer described to the paper. On 16 September, while on duty, he accepted a Facebook friend request from an unknown account at about 9 pm, and exchanged sexually explicit messages with the account through Messenger. He says the person behind the account then downloaded his old Facebook photographs and used AI tools to create morphed obscene images and videos showing him with women. The account holder sent him the images and videos with a QR code, demanded money and promised to delete the material if he paid, and threatened to send it to senior police officials and upload it on social media, warning that this would damage his reputation. The harassment continued until 18 September. He asked for action against the account holder and submitted copies of the messages and the morphed photographs. A senior officer told TOI the constable should not have engaged with the account and that police suspect the fraudster also saved his messages. Hebbal police registered a case under IT Act sections 66E (violation of privacy) and 67A (sexually explicit material) and BNS sections 308 (extortion) and 351 (criminal intimidation), said they had taken measures to keep the material from being uploaded and are working to trace the fraudster. The AI attribution is the complainant's; the report does not say whether police examined how the images were made, whether he paid, or whether any material was published.
Reported harm
The complainant says fabricated obscene images and videos of him, made with AI tools from his Facebook photographs, were sent to him with extortion demands and threats to send them to his superiors and post them online over three days (his complaint as reported by the Times of India).
Outcome
OngoingHebbal police registered a case under Sections 66E and 67A of the Information Technology Act and Sections 308 (extortion) and 351 (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, took measures to prevent the images and videos being uploaded and are trying to trace the account holder (Times of India, 27 September 2026). No arrest is reported.
What remains unknown
- Whether the complainant paid any money.
- Whether any of the material was sent to others or published.
- Which AI tools were used and whether police have verified that the images were AI-made.
- Who operated the account and from where; no arrest is reported.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The complainant says the account holder used AI tools to make morphed obscene images and videos from his old Facebook photographs; he gave police copies of the images. The Times of India reports this as his claim. The tool is not named and no police or forensic finding on how the material was made is reported.
2 claims: 2 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported According to his complaint, after the head constable accepted a Facebook friend request on 16 September 2026, the account holder used AI tools to make morphed obscene images and videos of him from his old Facebook photographs, sent them to him with a QR code demanding money, and threatened to send them to senior police officials and post them on social media; the harassment continued until 18 September.
Causal attribution. The complainant's account as reported by TOI; the AI attribution is his claim and is not examined in the report.
- timesofindia.indiatimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'he received a friend request from a Facebook account'; 'on Sept 16'; 'claimed that the person behind the account downloaded his old photographs from Facebook and used them to create morphed obscene images and videos showing him with women, using AI tools'; 'the accused then sent the morphed images and videos to him along with a QR code, demanding money and promising to delete the material if he paid'; 'threatened to send the morphed images and videos to senior police officials and upload them on social media if he failed to comply, warning that the move would damage his reputation'; 'The harassment continued till Sept 18'
Reported Hebbal police registered a case under IT Act sections 66E and 67A and BNS sections 308 and 351, took measures to keep the images and videos from being uploaded, and are trying to trace the account holder; the complainant gave police copies of the messages and morphed photographs.
Causal attribution. Police account as reported by TOI; the FIR was not read.
- timesofindia.indiatimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'Hebbal police have registered a case under Sections 66E'; 'Police have taken measures to ensure that those images and videos are not uploaded on social media and are making efforts to nab the fraudster'; 'He also submitted copies of the messages and morphed photographs along with his complaint, a senior officer said'
Sources
1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- Times of India (Bengaluru), 27 September 2026: Facebook friend request turns into sextortion trap for Bengaluru cop(opens in new tab)
s1 · timesofindia.indiatimes.com · News report · English · Inspected · 27 September 2026 · Primary
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read live in English on 2026-09-28 (Times of India, Bengaluru, byline H M Chaithanya Swamy, published 27 September 2026 21:29 IST, modified 28 September). Based on the complaint and a senior officer's statements. The420.in's derivative article returned 403 and was not read. Applies to s1.
Event countries: India. Affected-person countries: India. Court countries: Unknown.
The complainant is a head constable at Hebbal police station in Bengaluru, was on duty in the Hebbal area when contacted and complained to Hebbal police (Times of India). The account holder's location is unknown. No court proceeding is reported.
Reviewed for publication 2026-09-28: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a core case: according to the complainant, AI tools were used to depict him in fabricated obscene images and videos that were then used for extortion, and police registered an extortion and IT Act case. Single reporting chain (the Times of India, from the complaint and a senior officer). The complainant is not named.
People described
A head constable attached to Hebbal police station, Bengaluru (not named; TOI uses a changed name)
People reported harmed in this case
1 person
0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed
One person, the head constable depicted in the morphed images and targeted by the extortion demands (Times of India). The women shown with him in the fabricated images are not counted: they are not identified and no harm to them is reported. Exact 1.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Tags
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). Bengaluru: a Hebbal police head constable says a stranger who contacted him through a Facebook friend request used AI tools to turn his old Facebook photographs into obscene images and videos, then demanded money and threatened to send them to his superiors and post them online; police register an extortion and IT Act case (16-18 September 2026). AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-bengaluru-hebbal-head-constable-ai-morphed-images-sextortion
BibTeX
@misc{2026_bengaluru_hebbal_head_constable_ai_morphed_images_sextortion,
title = {Bengaluru: a Hebbal police head constable says a stranger who contacted him through a Facebook friend request used AI tools to turn his old Facebook photographs into obscene images and videos, then demanded money and threatened to send them to his superiors and post them online; police register an extortion and IT Act case (16-18 September 2026)},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-bengaluru-hebbal-head-constable-ai-morphed-images-sextortion}
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