Cops warn men against calls of sexual temptation

Surat: Earlier this month when a BJP councillor from Bardoli was having a private video call with a woman on WhatsApp, he did not have an ounce of thought that the video call was being recorded and the obscene video clip will be shared widely leading to his defamation and suspension from the party.
Lately, not just this councillor, but a few other men from Navsari too have been left embarrassed after similar videos of theirs were circulated on social media. Seeing a surge in such cases, Navsari police issued guidelines for men so that they don’t become victims of online honey trap.
Police have been raising awareness through different mediums for women so that they are not victimized, but this is probably for the first time that cops have appealed to men to not get lured.
A webinar too was organized for citizens by Navsari police where a cyber lawyer warned them of gang involved in cyberbullying and extortion.
Among the guidelines issued, police have warned citizens to not react or respond to requests made by callers to strip themselves or get influenced by callers’ beauty. It was also stated that people should not get lured by the callers’ profile picture.
“A very common modus operandi is that the gang involved in blackmailing sends pornographic video to the victim to influence him. A few minutes later they make a video call, but the caller’s face is not revealed, and the victim also starts responding to the pornographic act,” said inspector P N Khokhara of Surat Range Cyber Crime police station. In the Bardoli councillor’s case too, the caller had not revealed her face.
Officials said that after the video is recorded, the gang then starts blackmailing the victim to shell out money through online payments application.
“Due to the fear of getting shamed people send money but even then, the video gets circulated,” Khokhara said.
“The best way to avoid this is that people should not accept any unidentified person’s friend request or respond to messages from unknown people,” said Chirag Lad, a cyber lawyer, who addressed the webinar.
“We have been appealing to citizens to contact us and register their complaint if they go through any such incident. We will investigate it through all means possible,” said Rushikesh Upadhyay, superintendent of Navsari.