Hyderabad: Online sextortion, a form of sexual exploitation, is becoming increasingly rampant. Cybercrime experts say that by the time victims realise that they are being exploited, it is often too late.
A senior officer of the cybercrime unit says, “In most cases, the perpetrator initially poses as a female to get into victim's social circle online, as a friend or a follower. Slowly, he entices the victim and invites him or her to chat privately.”
After gaining the victim's confidence and becoming familiar, the person asks 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.
Perpetrators also download their victim's pictures from social networking sites and morph them. They use these morphed images and video recordings to blackmail their victims.
S. Harinath, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crimes) 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."
He says that 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 says.
Perpetrators try to extract money and sexual favours and they think that they cannot be caught. "It does take time, somewhere between 15 and 20 days, to analyse the evidence and nab the accused. If we find out that any derogatory content about the victim, we immediately ask the authorities concerned to take it down,” Mr Harinath said.
