A Melaka lawmaker has revealed that a 65-year-old grandmother was among the hundreds of locals whose photos were reportedly uploaded into a private Telegram dating group. Kota Laksamana assemblyman Low Chee Leong said that the teenage grandson of the elderly woman was shocked to discover that doctored and obscene pictures of his grandmother had been posted in the chat group.
The 19-year-old was in tears and felt embarrassed when he told me that the pictures had been manipulated to show his grandma in a bikini, with wording suggesting that she was lonely and looking for companionship,” said Low on Tuesday.
Low has also received complaints about photos of female executives, housewives, and young men being extracted from social media and uploaded into the dating group. The manipulated images showed the innocent individuals in bathing suits and underwear.
Low expressed concern over the use of an artificial image-generator program to manipulate the images, stating, “One of our family members could be the next victim.”
One of the victims of these catfish scams was a 42-year-old housewife, who was deeply disturbed when her doctored picture in a scantily-clad attire was uploaded into the chat group. Low stated, “The housewife with two teenage children was upset when her photos of her attending her son’s school event that she posted on her Facebook page last month were extracted and abused.”
The chat group claims to have 700,000 members and is marketed as a dating site, but instead displays inappropriate pictures of innocent victims. Low also found it strange that the scammers specifically targeted housewives and elderly women from Melaka to be part of their profile pictures of available singles, with only a few fabricated photos of young men being posted in the chat group.
In response to the situation, Low has encouraged the victims to make a police report or officially lodge complaints with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
Credit: The Star : News Feed
