MUMBAI: Cybercrime is growing faster than street crime, Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar warned on Friday, recalling that his teenage daughter was once asked for a nude photo during an online video game.
Kumar shared the incident at a cyber safety awareness programme in Mumbai, attended by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and senior police officials. He said his daughter was playing the game a few months ago when she encountered an unknown person who initially sent polite and encouraging messages.
“The person who was playing a video game with my daughter was very sober and talked normally. The communication was on and after the game, that person used to give a compliment to my daughter, saying well played… nice…..it was as usual a normal conversation. That went for a few days, then after some days, that person again gave the compliment at the end of the game and asked, Are you male or female?” Kumar said.
The actor said the person had later asked his daughter where she lived, to which she had replied Mumbai.
“Another day, at the end of the game, he, as usual, gave the compliment and praised her game. Then, he asked my daughter to send her nude picture. My daughter was shocked, and she immediately switched off her phone and informed her mother,” he said.
“This is how everything begins. It is great that my daughter spoke to my wife about it,” he added. “This is a part of cyber crime, where children get carried away. In some cases, people face extortion and many things happen. There are many cases where the victim ends life.”
“In the digital world, we unwittingly share many personal details, and that later gets misused. Then the blackmail and extortion take place, as we have seen in digital arrest incidents. Therefore, nowadays the cybercrime is more dangerous than street crime, which has to be curbed properly and save the next generation,” the actor added.
Meanwhile, Kumar urged that cyber awareness be made part of the school syllabus. “In school, we learn history and maths. We also learn two plus two is four. But in the cyber world that four can become zero. Our children should learn all this,” he said.
“I would like to request the CM that in Maharashtra schools from class 7 to 10, there should be a weekly ‘period’ on cyber safety. The education on cybercrime is very important nowadays,” he added.
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