Teens and millennials in the city are finding their online presence threatened as cases of catfishing and identity theft increase.
A student in Bengaluru, Divya was a victim of identity theft recently. “Someone created a fake account of me on a dating site, using my pictures from Instagram. This led to a lot of misunderstanding and several people complained to me about receiving absurd messages from the account,” she says. The incident shocked her because her Instagram profile is private, where no outsider has easy access to her pictures.
“My account has always been private on Instagram, which is why I know it was someone I know and that is scary,” she adds.
Sarah (name changed), another young teen from the city, found her pictures being circulated on Facebook with inappropriate captions. “My pictures were being used by a shady call girl page. They were even using my real name. I tried complaining to the police, but they told the process takes time and they couldn’t get the images deleted immediately. I had to bombard Facebook with several emails, after which they finally reported and deleted that page,” she says. Post the incident, she has decided to take a break from social media for a few months.
“I really liked being on social media. It was fun. But I realised having a public profile was not at all safe. The incident was an eye-opener of how flawed the system is and now I don’t feel like being active on Instagram or Twitter anymore,” she adds.
The main problem lies in the way the system works currently, says Pranav M B, communications lead, Centre for Internet and Society, Domlur. “In such cases of catfishing or identity theft you have the option of directly launching a complaint with the cybercrime department. But because the capacity in India in dealing with cyber issues is limited, it often does not result in much,” he says.
He believes approaching the online platforms directly can often lead to more satisfactory results. “Every platform has a way of dealing with such reports. The chances of them responding quicker are more likely if you get as many people to raise the issue as possible, compared to just getting your five friends to report,” he adds.
Even after an account is reported and deleted from an online platform, there is no way of ensuring another account does not get created. “This is the fundamental danger of the Internet. Once your information is published, it’s out there forever. You have very little control over it,” adds Pranav.
Problem of oversharing
There is a disconnect between how people behave online and how they behave in real life, says Pranav.
“Many times, the kind of details that people post on social media, they wouldn’t want to broadcast to strangers in real life,” he says.
He believes the reason behind this is the sense of control social media provides. “Because you’re not directly interacting with people as you post things and you’re also not receiving instant information on how many people are seeing your posts. People often feel they have the liberty to post whatever they want,” he adds. However, the recent cyber crimes and data breaches have led to many youngsters taking it upon themselves to learn more about online safety.
“We may post details of ourselves because we feel comfortable and supported, but our pictures and details can be easily misused by cybercriminals who indulge in activities such as stalking, bullying, blackmailing and identity theft. It’s better to share details that don’t reveal much about ourselves,” says Dhruv, a student.
To control this issue, the youngsters need to be educated about internet safety both at home and at school, says Sarah. “My ten-year-old sister has an Instagram account. The way children are taught to not talk to strangers on the roads, similar boundaries need to be set online too,” she shares her concern.
Pranav also believes online safety needs to be part of the school syllabus. “Everyone needs to be taught the basics at least. Often, you’ll see people mention their birth dates on their social media profiles, but that shouldn’t be done. If the dates aren’t kept private, it becomes easy for hackers in many cases to commit cybercrimes. Many aren’t even aware of this,” he adds.