It started with a WhatsApp video call from an unknown lady.[1]. In Soukin v. the NCT State New Delhi, the complainant Dewan Singh Malik received an unknown video call from a lady who insisted on a private video call and later recorded the video call, after Dewan received several calls from different mobile numbers, she introduced themselves as police officers/Youtube employees and extorted a total amount of ₹16 Lakhs on the pretext of removing the video from Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and by threatening him of false accusation in the murder case of the lady in the video and on the pretext of settling the matter with her family.[2]
The complainant became a victim of sextortion. The word sextortion is made with two words sex+ extortion so it’s pretty self-explanatory, according to Merriam Webster dictionary sextortion is extortion in which a perpetrator threatens to expose sexually compromising information (such as sexually explicit private images or videos of the victim) unless the victim meets certain demands.
This is no longer a minor concern in India; it has escalated into an epidemic. With over 500 new cases daily, less than 0.5% of these incidents are officially documented. The most at-risk groups are teenagers, women and LGBTQ+ individuals, with Generation Z—often considered the most tech-savvy—being particularly susceptible to cyber predators.
Legal framework on sextortion
India does not have specific laws addressing sextortion; however, it does have legal provisions related to sexual abuse and extortion.
- Section 383 of the IPC deals with extortion it states that “Whoever intentionally puts any person in fear of any injury to that person, or to any other, and thereby dishonestly induces the person so put in fear to deliver to any person any property, or valuable security or anything signed or sealed which may be converted into a valuable security, commits “extortion”.”
- Section 384 deals with punishment for extortion and states that whoever commits extortion shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term that may extend to three years, or with a fine, or with both.
There are separate laws for sexual abuse, like The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and many more.
Role of technology
This is stuff we’ve all heard: “I’ve seen my Facebook account hacked, with images of inappropriate pictures being posted in my name and is now demanding that I pay him to remove it, threatening to make it go viral if I don’t pay him.” Such scenarios also illustrate just how important social media is in participating in successful fraudulent operations.
Anonymity and encryption are today the norm in our world, and people think that there are zero consequences as long as it is behind their screens. This perception of invulnerability can certainly make the fights of law enforcement even more difficult, and partly it is a legitimate expression.
In the past few years, Artificial Intelligence has emerged to be the dawn of a new world of fraudulent activities. Deepfake technology — which lets you digitally manipulate someone’s face or body to look like somebody else — is now being wielded by criminals for malicious purposes. After making these types of videos, they will often threaten the victim and demand money by posting the video saying that they are going to share the video with the victim’s family or post it on social media if their demands are not met.
It is obvious that social media has to be blamed for many things. They need to implement much stricter regulation, on what happens to those accounts, they need to report those accounts and make sure those accounts don’t pop up again under new names and new IDs.
Impact on victims of sextortion
Sextortion results in tremendously affecting the target emotionally and psychologically, most of whom are left deep in trauma, anxiety, and depression. The invasion of their privacy, and the constant threat of having their private sensitive information shared all over exacerbates their feelings of hopelessness and instead of coping, they continue to be harassed. Most victims end up cycling through the event over and over and worrying all the time about exposure and the resulting outrage and prejudice.
This anxiety becomes a daily existence, since victims fear stigmatization, being ostracized or facing increased attempts to extort from them. The efforts to regain personal individual spheres border on a deep depression, which erodes self-esteem and leads to social isolation from both family and workplace. In addition to this severe emotional toll, which is aggravated by the possibility of the victim’s friends and family not believing them or not supporting this type of crime results in victims feeling completely helpless, and the psychological consequences of sextortion remain with victims even after they have stopped being victimized.
Many cases of this fraud still go unnoticed, and few people are willing to report it to the lab. They reason that their relatives and friends may find out and may force the relatives of the perpetrators to suffer in silence as a result of shame. Moreover, there is often a severe distrust of authorities, especially in matters that are as delicate as this one. Alas, quite a lot of authorities do not respect privacy and when it comes to sexual offences, victims are often to blame.
Prevention and awareness about sextortion
One of the most vulnerable groups of the population as a target for crime, and more specifically sextortion, is teenagers, with the latter being facilitated by social networks. This makes it very important to pay much attention to this age group in our discussions and other relevant efforts to address such concerns.
- Understand the risk: education does not only assist teenagers realize how dangerous it is to share their photos and videos on a public account but also keeps them more cautious than they used to be.
- Manipulative behaviour: the reality should teach teens how to identify signs of grooming or manipulation.
- Removing shame: Sextortion to teens should be explained to enhance reporting of the cases rather than remain silent due to embarrassment or fear.
- Cyber security curriculum: Some recommendations from the findings include schools adopting internet safety as well as sextortion awareness for teaching.
- Parents’s support: Create an environment in which a child feels comfortable to talk about his or her experiences with technology tools. Furthermore, parents should also teach young adults the general guidelines of questioning and verifying the identity of the persons they are communicating on the internet with. In addition, parents should be aware of a variety of social networks and other platforms as well as dangers that exist to help their children behave safely online.
Tips for protecting oneself from sextortion
- Don’t Share too much: Never share sensual pictures with anyone – friends included – because devices or accounts can be compromised.
- Use Strong Privacy Settings: Corresponding social media accounts and messaging apps should have the strongest privacy settings so that the information does not fall into the wrong hands.
- Verify Identities: Do not go around talking to strange people on the Internet. Never get into issues that personally involve you or your companions without first confirming the people you are dealing with.
- Enable Two-Factor Authentication: Make sure to always enable two-factor authentication on all accounts to ensure none of them is breached.
- Report Suspicious Activity: If you are threatened or blackmailed, It is advised to inform the police and the social network used and stop any contact with the offender. Report+ Block
The future of sextortion
When social media created its footing, the governments of the world did not act to place preventive measures against pitfalls of the social media. It appears to be a common norm that social media is used for more than only entertainment but rather to publish fake news, and harass and manipulate people.
Given the current developments in artificial intelligence, it is high time governments developed sound legislation covering the use of deepfakes towards curbing crime. Also, it cannot be done individually, as such problems as sextortion are transnational. It is high time there was a long overdue United Nations framework for internet and artificial intelligence safety. These are challenges that must be solved as early as possible.
[1] Sukin vs The Nct State New Delhi on 24 April, 2024
[2] Id
Author: Anuska Maurya, 1st year student at Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, GGSIPU
