Pakistani teenager rescued by fake Facebook friends!

The Dhaka Times Desk The popularity of social media Facebook is now at its peak. Through this, as virtual friendship and love are increasing by leaps and bounds, so are all serious crimes including cheating, sexual harassment, kidnapping. Various criminal gangs are also luring Facebook users to continue their criminal activities (blackmailing, kidnapping) through chatting, one such incident happened in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. A teenager who was kidnapped by a criminal gang based on his identity on Facebook was rescued last Monday.

Karachi city is known as a city of violence, murders, thefts, robberies and criminals. However, child abduction using social media is rare. According to senior Karachi police officer Niaz Khoso, a criminal gang targeted the teenager through an online game on Facebook and developed a friendship with the teenager. They chat for about six months. Because of that friendship, the teenager goes to meet them and is then kidnapped.

The police also said that the kidnapped teenager's name is Mustafa. The teenager is the son of a senior customs officer. They abducted him and took him to Hub town in Balochistan province outside Karachi and called Mustafar's family from that town and demanded Rs 50 crore ($500,000) as ransom. The police tracked down the mobile phone and raided the hideout of the kidnappers and rescued him. During the bloody operation, four kidnappers were killed in a shootout and a fifth person was arrested.

The boy's mother urges other parents to keep an eye on the proper purpose of using social media for their children and says with emotion, "My request to all parents is to not let your children get addicted to Facebook. Please for the sake of Allah, don't let this happen to your children.''

This incident shows how damaging social media Facebook can be in everyone's eyes. Facebook is and will be! To avoid the danger of kidnapping and other crimes, it is necessary to be a little extra careful, everyone should be careful in choosing friends on Facebook and keep yourself safe from such criminal gangs.

Reference: BBC