Three persons have been arrested for attempting to swindle Rs. 2 million from a top official of a private company after posing as a young girl on Facebook.
The trio had established a relationship with the official by initially sending him pictures of a young girl, claiming that she was the user of the account, and had later obtained explicit pictures form the official, which were later used to blackmail him.
The suspects had asked him to visit them at a particular site, and had then threatened to leak his explicit images to his wife, children and social media, if the ransom was not paid.
Subsequently, the suspects received Rs. 50,000, and had then increased their demand to Rs. 2 million.
The victimised official then informed the Police of the matter, after which, on the instructions of the Police, had asked the suspects to come to a certain location at which he would give them Rs. 1 million.
The suspects were then arrested by the Katana Police at the relevant site, while subsequent investigations have revealed that the trio are employed as drivers in the Athurugiriya area.
Further investigations are underway by the Katana Police.
