Are You Caught In The Web?

Adhere to certain security codes to steer clear of online ‘romance’ predators, says Hemchhaya De as she lists the dos and don’ts of finding love in the virtual world

- Hemchhaya De

About a year ago, a 27-year-old Mumbai-based woman, fell in love with a man she befriended through a social media platform. After a brief virtual courtship, the man invited her for dinner to his house in a Mumbai suburb. The rendezvous turned out to be a nightmare as the man spiked her food and raped her. And this was just the beginning, as she was kidnapped and confined to his house where she was raped repeatedly. Somehow, the woman managed to escape and lodged an FIR. She had to undergo extensive therapy to recover from the trauma.

In another incident of online deception, a 47-year-old entrepreneur based in Ahmedabad, was wooed fiercely by a man, who pretended to be a civil engineer in the UK. The woman, separated from her husband, and agreed to marry this man she met through a social networking site, without even meeting him. One day, the man told her that he was sending her several expensive gifts. In no time, the woman received a call from a ‘customs official’ asking her to pay duty to get her parcels cleared. The ‘official’ even sent her ‘documents from the Indian finance ministry’ and made her pay more than `7 lakh. She later discovered there were no gifts, and contacted the police. The man was arrested and the money recovered.

SCAMS ON THE RISE