By Anil Rachamalla
Social media creates an opportunity for young women and men living in socially conservative societies to be able to communicate, meet and engage in forbidden intimacies and forbidden behaviour. Men are being contacted on Instagram and WhatsApp by women having attractive profile pictures. They lure the unsuspecting men with sweet talk and gradually, persuade them to do a nude video call. When the victim calls, they record the entire episode and start blackmailing him for money, threatening to share the video clips with relatives and friends on social media.
Taking advantage of people’s fear of having intimate moments exposed, scammers are extorting money by threatening them. Sextortion scams are dangerous and may lead to suicides with the fear of social defamation.
Hyderabad News
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Sextortion happens via (1) social media (social networking, online video games, and video chat platforms). (2) Dating Apps (including OkCupid, Tinder, TanTan, and Locanto). (3) Bitcoin and email phishing (sending out random emails claiming to have sex recordings).
How to identify a sextortion scam:
Few common elements of scams:
What to do:
Age is not criteria. There are victims from all age groups. Never indulge in online chatting, dating or getting emotionally involved with strangers without verifying who they are. Never share intimate pictures and videos on any online platform.
Beware that there are so many pitfalls in online romance. There could be fake profile pictures, fake profiles, unclear motives, unbalanced emotional people, and unclear past behaviour, and mostly those are the people who are on the lookout for just a sexual relationship or planning to extort money.
Stay tuned to Cyber Talk for more on internet ethics and digital wellness brought to you by Anil Rachamalla of the End Now Foundation (www.endnowfoundation.org)
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