Women, the worst victims of cybercrimes

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Tension is escalating among the people over cybercrime as the cyber criminals have becoming resistless day by day. The maximum number of cybercrime victims is found among the women. They’ve been continuously becoming victim of harassment and pornography.

Last year, a research report was published by volunteer organization Cybercrime Awareness Foundation. It has been found from the report that the cyber criminals harass women by manipulating their photos, spreading porn content, defaming the victim online and sending SMS through phone or online. And the worst victims of these cases are surely the women.

Meanwhile, according to the information of cyber unit under crime investigation department of police, each month they receive around 3,000 complaints of cybercrime. If anyone filed cases, then they arrest the persons involved in crime. Besides the women, even men are becoming victim of sextortion (blackmailing by giving threat of exposing sexual incidence). The crininals try to take benefit by defaming the victim socially or grabbing money.

According to a statistics of DMP City Cyber Crime Investigation, the percentage of people involved in cybercrimes are 7% among those who are below age 18, while its 34 % among the persons aged from 19 to 25. Its 36% among people aged from 26 to 35, 20% among the people who are from 36 to 55 and among the people aged over 55 its 3%. They have been involving in crime by applying various techniques of information technology.

According to the sources, each day huge amount of complaints are being submitted to various units of police, cyber held desk of ICT department of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and National Telecommunication Monitoring Center. Even, some women and girls choose the path of suicide after becoming the victim of cybercrime.

Fatiha Akter, a 2^nd year student of BSC Nursing hailed from Jalsukha Union under Ajmiriganj in Habiganj district committed suicide in November 2021. There was a complaint that some miscreants were trying to blackmail her by exposing the video of her bathing that was recorded secretly.

To assist the women cyber victim, on November 16, 2020, Police Cyber Center for Women was inaugurated under LIC branch of Police Headquarter. Since its opening, 43 percent of the complaints it received were about fake social media ID. 10 percent of the complaints were about ID hacking, 15 percent about blackmailing, 12 percent about mobile harassment, 8 percent abut exposing sensitive content on internet and 12 percent about other issues. That means women and girls are becoming victim of multiple types of cybercrimes.

@The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on January 6, 2023 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque