An NRI from Kerala's Kottayam district has filed a police complaint that a person was blackmailing her on Facebook from an anonymous profile, by allegedly morphing her photos.
Police have booked the case under the IT Act, as the accused has morphed the complainant’s profile photos into a nude image and shared it though Facebook chat.
"The accused contacted the woman using a Facebook profile named `Donna Mathew' and messaged her that he has several nude pictures of her. He demanded Rs 2 lakh for not making the pictures public. The accused then shared an account number belonging to one Sebastian Joshi from Eloor and asked her to deposit money in the said account,'' Eloor SI Premlal told TheTimes of India.
However, the police said that Joshi was innocent and that the accused was using his details to run the bank account.
“The said bank account belongs to an Eloor native. However, the man is a school dropout and an alcoholic. The chances of the man creating a Facebook profile and morphing pictures are remote. Besides there was no direct evidence against him, this led us to believe his claim that he is not an accused," a senior police officer at Eloor police station told ToI.
The victim works as a house maid in Israel.
A recent study conducted by Kochi-based IT firm GOIS Software Labs a good number of women in Kerala are subjected to cyber bullying. The study also revealed that Even when they face severe online abuse and harassment, they are hesitant to file an official complaint.