by Dr Raghab Dash
A few days back, I received a video call from an unknown number. I didn’t take the call. When the caller persisted with repeated calls, I thought it to be from someone known to me and took the call, though reluctantly. To my utter amazement, the caller was completely nude. In a fraction of second, I disconnected the call and blocked the caller. So desperate was the caller that she gave me a couple of calls by the time I could block her. The desperation was perhaps because she couldn’t succeed in capturing my image.
I came across a report in some newspapers a few days back that such nude callers are giving random video calls to males and the moment one remains in the video frame, the face in the screen gets videographed and thereafter morphed with perverse obscenity for extortion. Such gangs are on rampage.
My previous knowledge about such reports, perhaps helped me avert an untoward incident.
The lessons from the incident: (i) Do not take unknown video calls at all; if you genuinely feel to respond, then allow the call to end and call back on normal or Whatsap audio; and (ii) sensitise the children to remain alive to such scenarios.
The telephone numbers used in such crimes seldom lead to any tangible result. Therefore, all are requested to handle the situation with absolute dexterity and seriousness. We need to take our own safeguards apart from reporting to Police, as we know cyber crime has become a formidable challenge of our times, posing threats to living with dignity and peace.
