The Incident
In a shocking incident that came to light on Monday, a 17-year-old boy from the city was deluded by his girlfriend on Facebook, which is one of the major social media platforms. The boy got acquainted with the girl through frequent chats, got close to her over the past few months. After a few days, the girl made up a story saying that she was in urgent need of some money. The boy got lured into the trap and went on to transfer an amount of 14 lakhs from his father’s account. His father is a retired railway employee and had recently deposited his retirement benefits into this account. The boy knew all the details of his father’s account and used this to his advantage. The police have traced the exploiter’s account to Kolkata and the investigation is going on.
Past Incidents on Social media platforms
It’s really unfortunate that yet another city’s youth has fallen bait to the darker sides of social media. A few months ago, three girls of the city were cheated by an Engineering student. He cajoled them into the trap by offering fake movie chances and marriage proposals. Not only youngsters but also a 35-year-old woman of the city was recently duped for 46.3 lakhs by her Facebook ‘friend’. The woman was, this time, deceived for expensive gifts from the UK.
What needs to be done?
Apart from these incidents, there have been many incidents in the past where people from our city have been easily targeted on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. They are either being exploited for large sums of money or being sexually harassed in the name of marriage. While Social Media usage is inevitable nowadays, it can turn into a scary experience if the users are caught napping. They need to set their privacy settings in a stringent way and befriend only those whom they know personally. It’s important that all the social media users are properly educated and made aware of the potential threats posed by it.
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