What should you do after you are scammed, defrauded, conned, tricked or cheated. ?

 

The Sinking feeling you experience cannot be explained by words, you may blame yourself, you may cry,  you may feel helpless, your trust is broken and its simply difficult for someone to let go, it takes a lot of time to heal. Nonetheless you should definite fallback on the legal mechanism in the country. The instruments of law enforcement are such which will surely ensure the guilty is punished for the act of cheating and fraud.

The intention of this blog is to educate you on the do’s and don’ts after being cheated, it can be a relationship or a business transaction or an internet scam, there are ways to handle them.

Let’s classify the ways to deal with in two parallel categories.

1.       Emotional

2.       Legal

 

How to deal EMOTIONALLY when you are a victim of a Scam, Fraud, Cheating ?

1.  Don’t Feel Helpless and stop blaming yourself : The first suggestion I give to my clients is to stop blaming yourself, don’t allow you to be judged by someone who does not know the situation you have gone through.

Victim blaming its quite a natural and common phenomenon, when you discuss with your near ones too, they get into blame game. You need to be tough, many at times people take harsh steps of committing suicide when they get cheated in a relationship, or lose money or are conned in some way where their self-respect is lost.

 

2.    Give yourself time but stop living in the Past : Grief is a normal human response, its ok to feel sad, depressed and absolutely normal for you to go through the turmoil from days to weeks and sometimes even months depending on the loss you suffered.

Also know that the scammers who loot you are professionals and sometimes operate as a team, thinking too much about the past will impact your health. What’s happened may be bad, but see this as a learning lesson and move on, the future is in your hands and you alone can shape it.

 

3.   Talk to someone : Talk with your friends or someone you trust, find a counsellor who understands and empathizes with you, talk to a legal advisor and gather advice on how to tackle the issues legally. Talk to someone who can laugh with you and not laugh at you.

Sometimes just venting out helps you feel relaxed, many a client of mine spend time with me talking out their issues and challenges, they need a patient listener who can not only listen without judging but also guide them.

On the flip side not talking and keeping things to yourself may be fatal, I have seen people who don’t express and keep things to themselves no only suffer health challenges but also tend to develop suicidal tendencies, they also face a lot of relationship challenges.

 

How to deal LEGALLY when you are a victim of a Scam, Fraud, Cheating ?

Based on my experience and the cases that I have dealt with we can categorize Cheating broadly into two categories.

 

1.       Personal : Matrimonial / Marriage related Frauds, Dating and Romance Scams, Adultery or Extra Marital Affairs, Identity Fraud, Blackmail using your Private Data or Nude Pictures.

 

2.       Financial : Cheated by giving Money to some (either as loan or for some work or business), Real estate Frauds, Internet Scams, Lottery Scams, Employment Scams, Investment and Ponzi Schemes, Online Shopping Scams, Hacking, Credit Card and Banking Frauds, Freelance Assignments and Commission related Frauds, Medical Frauds, COVID related Frauds etc.…

Irrespective of the challenge you have faced and been cheated either in a personal relationship or in a business transaction there are ways to deal with it legally. Here are the steps you need to take.

1.       Speak with your legal advisor and understand the legal complexities, discuss all the possible (If – Then – Else) scenarios and get all your answers, remember you are getting into Litigation and you need to know all possible things that will come your way and the also the approximate cost involved. Finally understand how a complaint should be drafted or should you directly file a suit.

 

2.       Based on the advice from your lawyer, if you decide to go through police and file a complaint, under the guidance of your lawyer draft a strong complaint, ensure you have covered all the points in your complaint and not missed out anything. (Its obvious when you are under stress, there may be some information you may not remember, its ok if there is some info missing and can be later appended, but try as much as possible to remember the dates, names of the people, address, location, etc.… and be as detailed as possible in the complaint.)

 

3.       Visit to the police station as per your jurisdiction by yourself or with your lawyer and file a complaint. Collect the NCR number and follow up to get the FIR done.

 

4.    Once the FIR is done an Investigation Officer will be assigned and will start investigating,

 

a.       If the person against whom you have complained is caught, and you will be informed to visit the police station. If there is an opportunity to compromise and you too wish, the matter can be settled here, your lawyer will do the paperwork and along with the police get the matter resolved. But if you wish that the person should be punished, and the act committed has not only infringed your personal rights but also is a crime against the state the matters proceeds further.

 

b.      If the person against whom you have complained is not caught after all possible efforts and the police too is unable to trace due to lack of identity or you have no whereabouts of the person to be traced, then the matter will be recorded and the person will be classified as ABSCONDING. 

 

Note : As per Article-20(3) of Constitution of India "no person accused of an offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself." The accused must be presumed innocent until proved. Hence it is your duty to prove the offence which you have given in the written complaint with evidence. In most of the case due to lack of evidence the accused is scot-free, and the victim continues to suffer … the miscarriage of justice …

 

5.       The Charge sheet is prepared as per the investigation and gets filed in the court by the police and a Public Prosecutor is assigned to represent the state while a private lawyer who you have engaged can help representing you and assist the Public Prosecutor. The accused will hire a lawyer who will defend him.

 

6.       If the accused is caught

 

a.       the trail begins in the court of law and goes through various stages starting from Summons, Evidence, Eyewitness, Examination and Cross Examination, Final Augments followed with the judgement and decree. If the judgement is in your favor, then you will file an execution petition and get the reward as per the judgement if not you will have to knock the doors of higher courts.

 

b.      If the accused is not traceable the order will be an Ex-Parte in your favor.

 

7.       The accused may also go for an appeal if convicted and the process continues in the higher courts.

In my experience the suit may run anywhere between 18 to 36 months, and in a span of three years most of the cases get resolved. There is always a provision for out of court settlement and the case gets withdrawn and matter gets quashed.

Essentially, there is an act committed by some person or a group of persons (scamster / fraudster / cheat) with an intention to gain value by manipulating and playing with your emotions. They are professionals and the common man gets duped.

The intention of this blog is to educate the reader that there is always a dawn after the dusk, there is always a ray of hope, there is always help available, there is always guidance and advice available, don’t feel yourself alone, depressed and take any hasty decision because you went through a bad episode of your life.

If this blog helped you do like, share and comment. Feel free to reach me at lawyersonia@gmail.com or +91 9845944896 for advice and or counselling.

 

What is Revenge Porn : Legal Remedies for Cyber Crime Driven by Vengeance

 

 

lawyersonia@gmail.com | 9845944896 | Revenge Porn | Non-consensual Sharing of Intimate Images and Videos

90% of Revenge Porn victims are either Women or people in the LGBTQ community. 93% reported not only the person but the family members too underwent severe trauma. 49% of such people surveyed said they are harassed or stalked online by users who saw their material. 27% of Indians in the age group of 13 to 45 in the sample surveyed were subjected to such instances of Revenge porn and this age group is most vulnerable.  

National Crime Records Bureau of India reports 157% increase year on year in the number of cases reported for sharing obscene content on the internet.  Unfortunately, some are accidental, but many are driven by vengeance from the ex-partner to settle scores with either the boy who has moved on or the girl who is now happily married concealing and forgetting her past.  

Revenge Porn is a global phenomenon, in India its now catching up but less than 5% of cases get reported. The taboo and stigma associated is such which is also a raising concern for many suicide cases, job loss, matrimonial disputes leading to divorce and many more repercussions. 95% of Cyber-Crime victims do not even lodge a complaint as the victims, who are usually women, fear they will get identified and labelled in society, alas the prevalence of victim shaming. Also comes with it an embarrassment of showing their content to the person seeking help from which could be the police, lawyer, parents, siblings, counselor etc…

The First ever case State of West Bengal v Animesh Boxi in the year 2018 sets precedence with punishment for 5 years and a fine of INR 9,000. Also, the judgement gives directions to the state government to treat the victim of Revenge Porn as a Rape Survivor and provide her appropriate compensation.  

“ Revenge porn is defined as sexually explicit images of a person posted online without that person’s consent especially as a form of revenge or harassment. Unfortunately, the perpetrator and the victim shared an intimate relationship in the past ”

 What should you do if you are a victim of Revenge Porn

-         While you will want the guilty to be punished, first thing first, as soon as you identify immediately report to the platform where you saw such image / video either yourself or through your legal counsel and request removal of such online content.

-         Facebook, Instagram, YouTube restrict nudity, but some medical videos continue to be available in these platforms usually are that of breast feeding or cancer detection guides, no matter how intelligent the platforms are some photographs or videos cannot be detected automatically, reporting will help remove the content.

-         Blogs often may not be monitored, and such platforms may carry your images / videos posted by the offender and as a victim reporting to the platform provider gets these removed immediately.

-         Unfortunately, if the content is removed from or the URLs are deleted, the material may still be on the hosting website.

-         While these images or videos are in the process of being removed do consult your legal counsel and identify the options you wish to pursue to both defend your self and punish the accused.

-         You may also approach a clinical psychologist and during this tough time seek counselling. I do volunteer for such activities as time permits and as a practicing advocate work closely with the cyber crime police in assisting victims and standing for justice. I can be reached at lawyersonia@gmail.com for any guidance or legal assistance.

-         Gather evidence of the material, while you have written to the platforms to remove the content, take screen shots which will form the evidence if you wish to file a legal suit against the offender.

-         Consider the source of images, identify if you have accidently shared or someone has intentionally hacked from your personal devices. File a report with the police. You may directly approach the women’s cell, if you are a resident of Bangalore do reach the Shivajinagar women Police Station either directly or with your legal counsel and get the FIR registered and the stage

Legal Remedies for Revenge Porn

Many law makers globally agree that a definitive law needs to be defined with the quantum of punishment and the procedure for trail. While law making agencies in few countries have initiated such bills in their parliaments, In India acts of Revenge Porn often called as Non consensual pornography or Non consensual sharing of intimate images under the Section 66E, 67, 67A, 72 IT ACT. Such offences are also tried under section 4 and section 6 of Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act (IRWA), beyond the above acts the offender can be tried depending on the gravity of the case and parties involved under various sections of IPC not limited to IPC 292,354, 354 A, 354 C, 120 B, 406, 499, 509.

Conclusion

While there are legal remedies, we need to create a mass awareness and educate the people, especially adolescents and the youth not to encourage sharing nude pictures over the internet or engage in virtual intimate relationships online. While technology is a boon such acts of violating cyber privacy either accidentally or intentionally is a bane.

Trust this information compiled in this blog post is of help. Reach out to me if you are a victim of such cyber-attack at lawyersonia@gmail.com if you need counselling and legal assistance.