Trapped in the world wide web

Cyber crimes against women might be a relatively new phenomenon. But in this IT city, it has now taken on worrying proportions, with a majority of cases related to personal rivalry and use of obscene stuff intended for defamation.

Most victims of these online attacks are women who are educated belonging to middle and upper classes.

The cyber crime police receive complaints under four broad categories. Under one category, fake Facebook accounts are opened in the name of women and obscene content, including text and pictures, are posted and sent across to all contacts. In a few cases, the women victims are not only put to a lot of embarassment but also end up losing their jobs.

In crimes under another category, the email ids of the victims are hacked and objectionable content forwarded to all the contacts only to embarass the women. A third category of crime exists where the victims’ photographs are morphed and posted on pornographic websites.

Uploading videos on porn sites operated from foreign countries is another set of crimes. It is difficult for the police to charge sheet the suspects and take such cases to their logical ends. The police also find it tough to get evidences about the senders.

As a top cyber police official informs, boyfriends, estranged husbands and colleagues are found to be behind such acts against women. Marital discord, strained relationships and professional jealousy drive them to commit such acts.

Here’s one classic case, which is representative of what happens on the virtual world: A woman who later became a Miss Bangalore (City’s name changed) went on to get a Central government job in the City. She had an affair with a boy, but distanced herself after securing a job due to personal reasons.

The boyfriend later posted a video he had captured when she was in a compromising state with him. The video depicted her in a bad state and a few channels even flashed the footages. The government agency eventually fired her from service after the incident.

Consider another instance: A freelance writer wrote an article about a man and his good works. The two became friends and eventually got married. The man’s sister, working with a reputed insurance agency, was annoyed after her brother started spending less time with her.

She hacked his wife’s email id and sent across objectionable content expressing desire to sleep with bosses. It was as if the freelance writer had herself sent the content.  The office management terminated her contract. The incident happened a few months ago.