ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency, FIA, arrested two men here on Tuesday for harassing and blackmailing women online.
FIRs have been registered against them under Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act, PECA.
According to local media reports, a man named Fakhre Alam from Peshawar was arrested on the complaint of a woman. Mr. Fakhar was allegedly involved in sharing “objectionable” pictures of women over social media platforms including Facebook and Whatsapp. Initial inquiry by FIA revealed that the accused created fake accounts through a cellphone.
On the other, another suspect named Ahmad Zaib was nabbed on the complaint of a woman for blackmailing her. Geo News reported that Mr. Zaib used to share personal pictures of his wife online and “extort” money against them. According to Dawn, FIA talked to a man named Jihad Ali who confirmed that he had received objectionable photos of the complainant from Mr. Ahmad.
Cyber harassment involving women have been on the rise in Pakistan. According to figures released by Lahore based Digital Rights Foundation, their cyber harassment helpline received 2302 cases of harassment, out of which 53% of the complaints were by women. Additionally according to data available with FIA, around 90% of the cyber-crime complaints filed with FIA in the first quarter of 2018 showed women as victims .
