Saturday, 29 JULY 2023 | PURNIMA BISHT | DEHRADUN
Sextortion is a malicious online crime which is becoming the second most committed crime by cyber frauds in Uttarakhand after financial cyber scams.
In sextortion, the cyber criminals threaten to distribute or ‘make viral’ the private, sensitive and sexually explicit material concerning the victim, if he or she fails to provide sexual favours, images of sexual nature or money. As per the police, the sextortionists mostly target men in their late 20s to those as old as 80 years and above. They have also started targeting teenage girls and young women in their early 20s in the State as these victims and their parents are a soft target for them who are more vulnerable to their threats. Many cyber frauds even spend weeks or sometimes months to identify suitable targets and gather relevant information. To lure men, they set up fake profiles of attractive women and make them look realistic by showing the long timeline on profiles on social media, regular updates and uploading attractive and realistic pictures to make their presence believable. Usually, friend requests are sent from these fake profiles via Facebook, Instagram and dating sites among others to the targets. Such requests are from over-friendly and seemingly attractive females. Subsequently, the scammers then entice and persuade them to indulge in video calls of sexual orientation and record them using inbuilt or downloaded screen recording apps. These scammers use the recorded scandalous clips as a means to extort money from victims. It has been observed that many times, the victims were not doing anything explicit but the scammers make videos in a way that shows them in compromising situation that creates a sense of fear in them. This fear is the biggest power of cyber frauds and they exploit only gullible victims, said the director general of police Ashok Kumar. As per the data of the police, 20 cases of sextortion were registered in the year 2022. The police identified 23 accused in the cases besides filing chargesheet in 17 cases. From January to May this year, the police registered 13 cases and have identified 11 accused besides filing chargesheet in six cases so far. These cases involve male as well as female victims most of whom belong to urban areas. The DGP said that many victims, especially parents of young girls remain reluctant to file complaints due to victim shaming and social stigma which should not be the case in the current times. Kumar said, “After financial cyber fraud, the police receive maximum complaints of sextortion. Every victim- man or woman- should file a complaint. Yes, nabbing cyber criminals who are probably sitting behind a computer in an unknown State or even in another country is difficult but giving up to their demands empowers them more. The victim’s fear is their weapon. Most of the time, such scammers will not make videos if you will break communication with them because they do not have enough to share. Even if they do, people are aware enough these days to understand the difference between morphed and distorted images and videos. Police also keep the identity of the victims hidden as per their wish.” The DGP said that things will become worse with the continuous development of artificial intelligence in cybercrimes and staying cautious and not giving up to their threats are the only solutions.
