Lahore: According to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over 6,000 cases of sexual harassment were filed in the last 8 months.
When contacted, Lahore FIA Cybercrime Wing Director General Babar Bakht Qureshi said there were a large number of complaints and action was being taken accordingly. The FIA registered 2575 cases, of which 27 were arrested and raids were being conducted to arrest 127 wanted suspects.
Of the 6,168 complaints received, blackmailing constituted a large number. Majority of the victims were students or educated people including lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, bankers and employees of multinational and local companies. Pictures and videos recorded during joint educational and recreational activities were used for blackmailing in a number of cases.
Some cases revolved around matrimonial issues or, failure of relationships leading to resentment and blackmailing. The sources said women working in various companies had also filed complaints of sexual harassment.
According to the FIA record, the cybercrime wing has received 14,108 applications in all since January, of which 6,168 are complaints of sexual harassment. Officials of the agency said the number of such complaints was increasing day by day.
There are also many complaints about misuse of photos and videos taken from mobile phones and laptops sold by their owners without deleting them. Shopkeepers or buyers of the devices used the images for exploitation.
According to FIA sources, people’s inability to understand modern technology and use the security features of the latest models of the phones and computers leaves them vulnerable to the leakage and misuse of their personal data.
One of the problems faced by FIA is teh alck of co-operation from the social media companies for example Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram. These records are essential for the case to be processed.
Although FIA claims to be improving, the cybercirme wing of the organization still lacks the necessary equipment, qualified personnel and workforce to deal with this new type of crime. Due to these reasons FIA is facing a massive backlog, which only prolongs the suffering of the victims.
