Woman holds Instagram date hostage, tortures him for £75,000 ransom

A 22-year-old woman from New York has been accused of kidnapping and torturing a man with the help of three other accomplices after "luring" the victim to her apartment for a date.

The incident allegedly took place at the woman's residence on Marble Hill Avenue in The Bronx, New York, on February 7 this year.

The woman, identified as Valerie Rosario, lured the victim to her apartment after the two started chatting on Instagram. The group did not only hold the man hostage, but also demanded a £75,000 ransom from his brother.

The victim had assumed that he was meeting the woman for a romantic encounter. But little did he know he was walking into a honeytrap.

According to a report in The New York Post, Rosario is facing kidnapping and attempted murder charges and is in police custody.

Manhattan prosecutors have alleged that the group tortured the man for hours before Face Timing his brother to ask for a ransom.

Assistant District Attorney Andrew Kluger claimed in Manhattan Criminal Court that the victim's brother was made to see his brother being tortured on the video call.

According to the complaint, three men barged into her apartment and pistol-whipped the victim before stripping him and putting him in a bathtub.

They also "poured flammable substances on him, and burned him with a flame." He was then moved to some other location where he was "cut with a knife by one of the masked kidnappers."

The police found the victim the next day lying "unconscious" in the back of a van in Queens. He was then admitted to a hospital and was treated for multiple burns and stab wounds. The victim was wrapped in a furniture-moving blanket, with tape covering his nose and mouth, per the report.

Meanwhile, other suspects have also been charged and remanded in custody with a grand jury hearing scheduled for Tuesday.