PETALING JAYA: Police have advised victims, whose images have been superimposed on pictures of nude women, to lodge a report so that investigations can be initiated.
Bukit Aman Sexual, Women and Child Investigations Division (D11) principal assistant director ACP Siti Kamsiah Hassan told theSun while the police are aware of the trend of spreading pornographic material via social media platforms such as Telegram, there have been no reports made regarding fake or manipulated pictures.
“I would like to remind the public that any action that causes annoyance or destruction to others can be considered a threat, especially cases that involve the internet or social media as a medium,” she said.
Siti Kamsiah added that the public should be made more aware of this and to be careful not to openly share personal information on social media as it could potentially land them in trouble.
“I would also like to make it very clear that the act of criminal intimidation is under Section 506 of the Penal Code, and whoever commits the offence can be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or both,” she said.
“Another point I must highlight is that distributing nude photos or videos, whether fake or not, is considered an offence under Section 292 of the Penal Code and under Section VIII of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 for the distribution child pornography.”
She was commenting on reports that photos with faces of women superimposed on bodies in the nude are being widely shared in Telegram groups created by Malaysians.
The group goes under the name Vitamin4Testicles with a following of over 17,000 members.
Siti Kamsiah advised netizens to be careful of what is being put out into the internet and to know the limitations that should be followed when the digital world is involved.
“Be careful not to share personal information on the internet and have limitations,” she said.
In October last year, five women, whose images and videos were circulated on the messaging platform, lodged police reports against the groups.
One of the groups, known as V2K, had almost 40,000 male members, including students and wealthy businessmen.
The V2K group abused the Telegram platform for the distribution of unsolicited nude pictures and videos.
The content in these groups included child pornography with a subscription fee required for access, non-consensual sex videos and pictures as well contact details of girls for members to reach out to them.
The group has since been shut down by Telegram.
