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Is social media a slippery platform for women?
Social media is a platform to be in touch with friends, family members and relatives, whom we don’t meet often. In other words, we can say that it became the part and parcel of our day to day life. Of late, the social media is proving to be a thorn in the lives of many women as they are falling prey for wicked minds in the society.
Hyderabad: Social media is a platform to be in touch with friends, family members and relatives, whom we don’t meet often. In other words, we can say that it became the part and parcel of our day to day life. Of late, the social media is proving to be a thorn in the lives of many women as they are falling prey for wicked minds in the society.
Online sextortion,a new form of sexual exploitation, is increasing day by day. Cybercrime police and expertssay that by the time victims realise they are being exploited, it is often too late.
An officer from Cybercrime says, “In most of the cases, the perpetrators initially present themselves as females to get into victim's social circle online as a friend or a follower. Gradually, they entice the victim and invite him or her to chat privately.”
After that, the perpetrator proposes for a video call in which he strips down and asks the victim to do the same. In the heat of the moment, the victim often ends up doing as asked. Meanwhile, the perpetrator records the entire episode. In some cases, the perpetrators download the images of the victims from social networking sites and morph them. They use these morphed images and video recordings to blackmail the victim.
S Harinath, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) of Rachakonda, says, “In about 90 percent of the sextortion cases reported, the perpetrator knows the victim from college or work. The offence of sextortion is a form of vengeance that emerges when the victim declines a proposal, or when the perpetrator bears some other grudge against the victim."
On an average,about two cases of sextortion are registered every month. “These complaints come from those people who have gathered the courage to report the offence. However, over 50 percent of the cases that occur are not reported. The victims are afraid of the embarrassment that they are likely to face once details of the case come to light,” he added.
Meanwhile, perpetrators try to extract money and sexual favours and think that they could not be caught. “It does take time, somewhere between 15 and 20 days, to analyse the evidence and nab the accused. If we find out any derogatory content about the victim, we immediately ask the authorities concerned to take it down,” Harinath said.
By: Rashmi Kumari
