4-6-2023 (KUALA LUMPUR) A pornography group operating on social media platforms openly sold explicit videos of more than 2,400 Malay women, believed to be victims, for a subscription fee of RM40. The group also boasted over 1,600 subscribers, mostly local men, who paid the fee to gain access to a monthly update of a vast collection of videos.
Following these disturbing revelations, Siti Ganisya, the head of the Crimes Against Women, Domestic Violence, and Child Abuse unit (D11), stated that an investigation into the pornography group will be launched. However, experts in the field suggest that the videos could have been sold by the victims’ boyfriends, willingly shared by the victims themselves, or obtained through stolen data from their mobile phones.
According to a report by Malay-language newspaper “Malaysia’s Vanguard,” one of its journalists posed as a customer and joined one of the platform’s groups by paying the RM40 fee. Within the group, there were more than 2,400 Malay women, and thousands of explicit videos were made available for male members to view. The group boasted over 1,600 subscribers, believed to be local men.
Once admitted to the group, all members were required to adhere to certain rules and faced expulsion if violated. The illicit group behind the operation exercised caution by avoiding the public upload of explicit videos, as such action would easily attract the attention of law enforcement. Instead, they provided links to customers, who had to download specific files in order to access the videos.
Mohamed Rizman, an expert in information technology, analyzed the situation and noted that the platform employed various tactics to attract customers, including randomly sending platform information via search engines. He pointed out that the pornography group initially used explicit photos of female video performers for promotional purposes. Once customers were enticed and expressed interest in viewing the videos, they had to make contact and follow online payment instructions. Upon payment, customers gained entry to the VIP group and could then watch an unlimited number of explicit videos.
Rizman expressed concern about how the pornography group obtained these explicit videos involving Malay women. Currently, the uploaded videos only feature the female performers, with no sign of the male individuals involved. This leads him to speculate that the videos may have been sold by the boyfriends of the female performers. Another possibility is that the smartphones of these women were hacked, leading to the theft of their personal data and subsequent sale of the videos. Rizman added that based on his observations, there are already over a hundred similar groups employing the same strategy, with most groups ceasing their activities once exposed.
“The strategies employed by these pornography groups aim to ensure customer privacy and evade law enforcement scrutiny by operating through social media platforms, making it difficult to trace the operators,” he explained.
Previously, the dark web was the platform of choice for selling explicit videos worldwide, with prices ranging from RM80 to RM120. However, these illicit programs are gradually replacing the dark web, as they offer the advantage of unlimited content uploads for customers.
Apart from the aforementioned method of selling explicit videos, some individuals, driven by profit, are willing to upload their own sexual encounters to make money. They offer various services, including sexual encounters, on social media platforms. “Others simply provide pornographic content such as videos and photos, which are sent to customers upon receipt of payment through the platform,” Rizman added.
