Sex, Crime Of Online Sex Predator Experienced By Young Mothers In South Tangerang In Case Of Child Abuse

Sex is a form of cyber crime that uses sexual information from victims to commit sexual extortion. (Unsplash)

JAKARTA The case of extortion using social media Facebook is becoming a hot topic of conversation. Criminologists call this action a phenomenon of existence or sextortion.

In the past week, the case of young mother R (22) who sexually abused her eldest son, R (5), shocked the public. The mother from Pondok Aren, South Tangerang, was lured with Rp15 million in money when she deposited content with immoral nuances.

A similar incident occurred again and happened to a mother in Bekasi Regency, West Java. AK (26) has the heart to molest his 10-year-old biological son. Now, the two mothers have been named as suspects.

Family psychologist Sani Budiantini said it was necessary to check the mental or mental state of mothers who sexually abused their biological children to find out whether the mother who later became a suspect had a mental disorder.

Because a mother is supposed to provide protection, parenting, and needs to provide love, care, child needs. When a mother sexually abuses her, it makes no sense and becomes a concern, regarding the motives made," Sani told VOI.

He also emphasized the potential mental problems that children will face as victims, in the future. One of the impacts that arise is that children no longer trust other mothers or adults.

A child who hopes that his mother will take care does painful things, traumatizing himself. It can have an impact on future growth and development," he added.

However, although the two mothers are seen as perpetrators of sexual crimes, from another point of view the mother herself can also be considered victims of extortion.

As is known, the two cases of mothers harassing biological children have similarities, namely both of them were contacted by Icha Shakira's Facebook account. It happened together in 2023. R was first contacted on July 28, while AK in December in the same year.

Is a Facebook account with the name Icha Shakila who became an acquaintance of R and AK in cyberspace. The two mothers were asked to send immoral videos to their children with a promise to pay Rp. 15 million. If they refuse, nude photos that have been sent earlier are threatened with the distribution of Icha Shakila's account.

Dark eyes and squeezed by the economy, both of them committed these depraved acts. However, it is hoped that tens of millions of money will be sent away because Icha Shakila can no longer be contacted, while nasty videos with her own child have already spread on social media.

This mode of crime is called sextortion. According to the FBI page, sextortion or sextortion is when online predators trick someone to give them images or immoral videos, and then ask for more money or pornographic images or even other requests. If not followed, they threaten to share the images or videos that have been sent.

Meanwhile, according to Mamik Sri Supami as a criminologist from the University of Indonesia, R has experienced sexual crimes known as sextortion, regardless of the alleged criminal act of sexual abuse committed against his child. This refers to R's statement to the police that he was threatened when making nasty videos.

"In my view, what R (admits to be threatened through social media) is a sexual crime known as existence," said Mamik.

Mamik explained that sextortion is a form of cyber crime that uses sexual information from victims to commit acts of sexual extortion with the aim of satisfaction or material.

He added that perpetrators of sextortion crimes generally are male and female victims. The mode of this phenomenon is actually diverse, but what is rampant is to build love relations.

According to Mamik, this online extortion is usually started by approaching the victim through persuasion, being caring. But over time, after the victim was felt trapped in the imagination of love relations and promises about marriage, the perpetrator began asking for pictures or videos of sexual violence in the name of love.

"This image or video is used as a means of extortion for the perpetrator as well as a control tool for the perpetrator against the victim," he explained.

The hobby of Indonesians who like to share everything on social media can be an opening for perpetrators of sextortion crimes in targeting their victims, according to digital forensic expert Ruby Alamsyah.

Perpetrators of sextortion crimes usually target those who display vulnerabilities on social media. According to him, the tendency of the targeted victims is those who are lonely and in trouble.

"Why do the perpetrators know that? Usually Indonesians are too passesy. A little is the problem of being exposed on social media, the perpetrator monitors things like that," Ruby said.

"They are the ones who are easily provoked," he continued.

Citing the Internet Watch Foundation, in a world that is interconnected, the internet has changed the way we live, work, and connect with others. But the digital world is not without danger, and one of the big threats to individuals is sexual extortion online or sextorship.

Reflecting on these two sextortion cases, the police appealed to the public to be aware if there were parties who promised money from criminals.

"In order to be careful and vigilant, and do not easily believe, be tempted, and be trapped by sweet promises or the lure of being given large amounts of money. However, must do something that is contrary to legal, religious and social norms in society," said the Director of Criminal Investigation at Polda Metro Jaya Kombes Ade Safri Simanjuntak.