online harassment Archives - Akancha Srivastava Foundation

Twitter: @AkanchaS

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ABOUT ‘AKANCHA SRIVASTAVA FOUNDATION’

‘Akancha Srivastava Foundation’ leads India’s largest social impact initiative for cyber safety. It was founded in February 2017. It’s a not-for-profit Section 8 organization.

Honorary Board of Advisors

Foundation’s advisory board hosts – Former Special DGP RK Vij (Chattisgarh), ADG Navniet Sekera (Uttar Pradesh), ADG Krishna Prakash (Maharashtra), Dr Poonam Verma (Principal- SSCBS, Delhi University)

Mission of the Foundation

The initiative aims at Education, Empowerment & Bridging of general population with the authorities on matters of cyber safety. Foundation also conducts forensics training for law enforcement.

The post HOLIDAY BLUES? IT’S THE INSTAGRAM EFFECT! #AAH appeared first on Akancha Srivastava Foundation.

National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal #AAH

Akancha Srivastava — Mon, 13 May 2024 03:57:23 +0000

National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal #AAH

राष्ट्रीय साइबर क्राइम रिपोर्टिंग पोर्टल पर अपनी शिकायत दर्ज़ कराएँ और 1930 हेल्पलाइन नंबर पर किसी भी पैसों से संबंधित फ्रॉड को तुरंत रिपोर्ट करें

Link- https://cybercrime.gov.in/

CONTACT US:

Twitter: @AkanchaS

Instagram: @akanchas

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ABOUT ‘AKANCHA AGAINST HARASSMENT’

‘Akancha Against Harassment’ is India’s largest social impact initiative against cyber harassment. It was founded by Miss Akancha Srivastava in February 2017. It’s a not-for-profit Section 8 organization.

Honorary Board of advisors

Goals of this initiative

The initiative aims at Education, Empowerment & Bridging of general population with the authorities.

Support of the Indian Police for the initiative

Bridging is the most unique attribute of the initiative. We have a host of over 70+ senior police officers from across the country supporting us in content & awareness drive.

This unique strength helps us address any victim complaints that come to us as well as inform people about various measures of law enforcement across the country.

Multilingual AI Chat helpline for cyber safety

We run India’s only functional private national multilingual AI chat helpline for cyber safety. This helpline is currently available in Hindi & English on our website. It can be accessed from any internet enabled device. You can chat here anonymously, fearlessly.

The post National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal #AAH appeared first on Akancha Srivastava Foundation.

Greed, Lust & Fear Online! #AAH

Akancha Srivastava — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 15:03:07 +0000

Greed, Lust & Fear Online! #AAH

Anyone who is watching this video knows that cybercrimes are increasing every single day. We keep hearing deep fake videos, financial scams, blackmails and more. All of this can sound very overwhelming but we need to understand a few basic human emotions that are behind all kinds of crimes/ manipulation. Should we understand these well, we will be safer online or offline.

Greed, lust and fear are the three most basic human emotions. So how do we apply these to identify any red flags?

Greed- is something sounding too good to be true? Then it probably is! Any huge financial gains, easy loans, attractive schemes, quick money-making formula, promise of unbelievable returns, foreign trips as incentive? These are just few examples of greed, there could be many more!

Lust, attraction are base human emotions. But the trigger to blackmail, create revenge porn videos, leak intimate pictures, watch such stuff online all stem from it. Don’t trust anyone with your intimate data and don’t ask for intimate data via internet/ tech devices either. You just don’t know where the data may get compromised, cloud hacked or unintentionally seen by a third party.

All of the abovementioned are being used to create fear in minds of victims. Fear of being shamed, loss of job, loss of reputation, shaming in front of parents, peers! Morphing pictures, leaking intimate content- all done to instill fear in the victim. Blackmail, extortion, silencing the victim are all related to the same emotion- fear.

What are the 4 steps that can help us to safer therefore?

Be Alert- Be skeptical of everything online. Any offer, any person too good to be true should be treated with suspicion. Don’t take people at face value anyways but it’s far worse online as often we don’t get to even meet a person face to face to observe body language. Approach every job offer, dates, meeting matrimonial prospect with caution, do a background check, inform those you trust. Spot the red flags early one with this mindset.

Evaluate- When presented with a situation, prospect online, always evaluate every aspect very carefully. Question if it’s worth it, why are you being offered that, who is involved.

Evidence- Should you still be a victim, first gather evidence. We panic and delete stuff; we want to wish it away but that doesn’t help. We have to gather every bit of evidence. Screenshots, recordings, urls, call records. Remember that victims are being held to emotion of shame and fear. But if you need resolution all evidence Is crucial.

Report- Non-negotiable. Don’t let any criminal get away as they will commit more crimes and you will live with fear and shame. Will my picture still get leaked, oh my God will they ever tell my parents and more.

Hope we have helped some understanding of the psychological aspects of crime. Do delve deeper into the same.

Stay Aware, Stay Safe.

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

CONTACT US:

Twitter: @AkanchaS

Instagram: @akanchas

Facebook:

LinkedIn:

ABOUT ‘AKANCHA AGAINST HARASSMENT’

Honorary Board of advisors

Goals of this initiative

The initiative aims at Education, Empowerment & Bridging of general population with the authorities.

Support of the Indian Police for the initiative

Bridging is the most unique attribute of the initiative. We have a host of over 70+ senior police officers from across the country supporting us in content & awareness drive.

This unique strength helps us address any victim complaints that come to us as well as inform people about various measures of law enforcement across the country.

Multilingual AI Chat helpline for cyber safety

The post Greed, Lust & Fear Online! #AAH appeared first on Akancha Srivastava Foundation.

CYBER SAFETY WORKSHOPS WITH BHIWANI POLICE #AAH

Akancha Srivastava — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 03:30:54 +0000

CYBER SAFETY WORKSHOPS WITH BHIWANI POLICE #AAH

‘Akancha Srivastava Foundation’ partnered with Haryana Police to spread awareness about #Dial112- Emergency Response Number And cyber safety.

We were invited by Bhiwani Police, Haryana to spread awareness about their powerful safety initiatives on ground especially for girls & children safety. Together we conducted back to back cyber safety awareness workshops as young adults/ children or even adults are addicted to internet today.

Do watch the testimony of a young student who was fired up with passion after attending our workshop. This is the kind of confidence we wish to keep fuelling in youth so that they can take a stand for themselves and for others. We are thankful to the students who trusted us with their personal stories, we are in touch with them to help in any way possible.

Having Bhiwani Police women police officers along with us in these 3 days has further raised the respect in our hearts for law enforcement. We got insights into how hard they work in the region, listen to victims with compassion & with a stern hand when dealing with a criminal. Grateful to such committed, dedicated police personnel who are in service of the nation 24×7.

Let us tell you some more about #Dial112 emergency response number -a fantastic set up especially for girls who can download this app and fill their basic information which allows police to track their location.

All e rickshaws in Bhiwani have been given a unique ID and their driver’s details registered with the Police. In case of any such situation where a girl is feeling unsafe during travel, she simply has to Dial 112 and trigger emergency response. Patrol cars reach the victim within minutes with this ‘trip management service’. They even double check to ensure that the caller has reached their destination safely. Additionally Bhiwani Police has deployed women Police personnel in plain clothes at ‘hot spots’ & ‘hot routes’.

These spots cover entrances of schools & colleges, shopping malls, bus stations, train stations, public parks, food courts, popular travel routes. These personnel immediately intervene at any sign of harassment.

Our Foundation was glad to be invited to be a part of this initiative where we educated thousands of young students across school & colleges about cyber safety and Bhiwani Police measures. Enriching experience for us to witness this change within interiors of the country. We hope to continue this police public, knowledge partnership for long term social change as we have been doing for last many years.

Heartfelt thanks to Bhiwani Police, Haryana Police for giving us this opportunity.

Stay Aware, Stay Safe

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

CONTACT US:

Twitter: @AkanchaS

Instagram: @akanchas

Facebook:

LinkedIn:

ABOUT ‘AKANCHA AGAINST HARASSMENT’

Honorary Board of advisors

Goals of this initiative

The initiative aims at Education, Empowerment & Bridging of general population with the authorities.

Support of the Indian Police for the initiative

Bridging is the most unique attribute of the initiative. We have a host of over 70+ senior police officers from across the country supporting us in content & awareness drive.

This unique strength helps us address any victim complaints that come to us as well as inform people about various measures of law enforcement across the country.

Multilingual AI Chat helpline for cyber safety

The post CYBER SAFETY WORKSHOPS WITH BHIWANI POLICE #AAH appeared first on Akancha Srivastava Foundation.

Badhai Ho! #AAH

Akancha Srivastava — Sun, 11 Feb 2024 04:01:08 +0000

Badhai Ho! #AAH

Congratulations, well done, superbly done, you are amazing!

We are thanking all of you on completion of 7 memorable years of our ‘Akancha Against Harassment’ initiative! This success of our initiative truly belongs to all our viewers, supporters, well-wishers, student communities, teachers, IPS officers who collaborate with us, parents who believe in us, brands who fueled us but most importantly the victims who trusted us! Thank you for giving us an opportunity to help you in some way.

We have miles to go & we are super excited for the same. When we look back, thank God we didn’t believe anyone who told us that this mission was impossible. May be impossible for them not for us. Anything which doesn’t have a precedent is termed as impossible by people! Even airplanes were called impossible at one time, today they are pretty much normal. Same for vaccines, cancer cure, satellite and such amazing ‘impossible’ feats.

Cyber safety was not considered a critical topic 7 years ago but look at where we are now, our entire life is taken over by technology. If we had believed people who said this isn’t so important, we would not have been able to make this kind of a difference.

Hope next time someone tells you that something is impossible, it doesn’t deter you but encourages you to find new way of doing things. Our country needs us, it needs our intelligence, sense of responsibility, our compassion. Let’s come together and build a stronger India together.

Once again, a heartfelt thank you, please keep supporting us in this journey, please keep sharing feedback, invite us to your schools/ colleges/ offices/ societies, we would love to conduct workshops and make you a part of our extended family as well.

Stay Aware, Stay Safe

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

CONTACT US:

Twitter: @AkanchaS

Instagram: @akanchas

Facebook:

LinkedIn:

ABOUT ‘AKANCHA AGAINST HARASSMENT’

Honorary Board of advisors

Goals of this initiative

The initiative aims at Education, Empowerment & Bridging of general population with the authorities.

Support of the Indian Police for the initiative

Bridging is the most unique attribute of the initiative. We have a host of over 70+ senior police officers from across the country supporting us in content & awareness drive.

This unique strength helps us address any victim complaints that come to us as well as inform people about various measures of law enforcement across the country.

Multilingual AI Chat helpline for cyber safety

The post Badhai Ho! #AAH appeared first on Akancha Srivastava Foundation.

Are You A Social Media Addict? #AAH

Akancha Srivastava — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 04:00:59 +0000

Are You A Social Media Addict? #AAH

Addiction- Addiction is a condition in which a person is unable to stop using a substance or engaging in a behavior.

Why is social media addictive?

Social media is addictive because it has a significant effect on the brain, a mechanism also seen in substance use disorders. Social media affects human psychology by activating the reward centers in the brain.

This process creates pleasurable feelings that can boost a person’s mood when checking social media. For instance, a person with an Instagram addiction can get feelings of pleasure in the form of likes or comments when sharing a piece of content.

Social media affects the brain by activating its reward circuitry and releasing dopamine in the process. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that creates feelings of pleasure and want.

Rewards in social media come in the form of positive feedback from other users. Since these rewards increase the secretion of the feel-good hormone dopamine, people tend to look forward to positive feelings and will constantly check social media as a result.

Mumbai Police had also reunited a young girl with parents who had left home in anger cos parents told her to use less social media!!

There are many types of addiction here one of them is called Nomophobia: A shortened form of “no mobile phone phobia,” it describes a condition in which people develop fear and anxiety when left without a mobile device. Having an uncharged phone or being without cellular service can cause panic attacks in some people who suffer from the disorder.

Addictive social media use will look much like any other substance use disorder and may include mood modification

“Social media use becomes problematic when someone views social networking sites as an important coping mechanism to relieve stress, loneliness, or depression.

Social media use provides these individuals with continuous rewards that they’re not receiving in real life, so they end up engaging in the activity more and more. This continuous use eventually leads to multiple interpersonal problems, such as ignoring real life relationships, work or school responsibilities, and physical health, which may then exacerbate an individual’s undesirable moods. This then causes people to engage in the social networking behavior even more”

Impact of Social media addiction

Mental health: Social media addiction can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems. The constant comparison with others on social media can create feelings of inadequacy, leading to low self-esteem and self-worth. We are also constantly seeking validation. Social media incentivizes identity manipulation and reputation editing in ways that cause young people to view themselves as inadequate.
Relationships: Spending excessive time on social media can cause individuals to neglect their real-life relationships. This can lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation, which can further exacerbate mental health issues.
Productivity: Social media addiction can also negatively impact an individual’s productivity at work or school. Constantly checking notifications and updates on social media can lead to distractions and decrease focus and concentration. There is a constant fear of missing out. Trying new trends, music, fashion, makeup. If my peers are doing it so should I!

Irrational conformity to a group’s thinking- you are forced to choose sides
PTSD/ Anxiety triggers- you end up seeing really traumatic pictures/ videos. Reminding you of a similar experience in your life but you cant stop watching especially if its viral.

Sleep: Social media addiction can disrupt sleep patterns, which can lead to fatigue and other health problems, you are hooked to reels, pictures, videos
Physical health: Overuse of social media can ead to a sedentary lifestyle, which can cause physical health problems such as obesity and heart disease.
Eating disorders- Wanting to look think or binging while scrolling
Lack of empathy:
A person who struggles with social media addiction often chooses to communicate through email, messaging, or social media rather than face-to-face. The lack of face-to-face communication can impede a person’s empathy as feeling empathy is best learned through social situations.

Everything is good in moderation. You can have a small bit pf cake everyday what if you have one kg of cake everyday it will lead to diabetes very much like excessive use of social media will lead to problems.

Also remember what people post on social media is not the complete picture. Have you noticed some celebs might post such loving pictures and very same week they announce divorce, supper successful, good looking prosperous persons?

Steps to reduce social media addiction:

Delete your social media apps from your smartphone. While you can still access them from your personal computer, keeping them off your phone may help decrease the amount of time spent on social media overall.
Turn off your personal phone during work, as well as during school, meals, and recreational activities.
Set aside a certain amount of time dedicated to social media per day. Turn on a timer to help keep you accountable.
Leave your phone, tablet, and computer out of your bedroom.
Take up a new hobby that’s not technology-related. Examples include sports, art, cooking classes, and more.
Make it a point to see your friends and family in person when possible.

Depending on your needs, your break can last for 1 day per week,

PS- We have also included relevant content from articles/posts available on the subject, online.

Stay strong, stay aware, stay safe.

Jai Hind!

Stay Aware, Stay Safe

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

CONTACT US:

Twitter: @AkanchaS

Instagram: @akanchas

Facebook:

LinkedIn:

ABOUT ‘AKANCHA AGAINST HARASSMENT’

Honorary Board of advisors

Goals of this initiative

The initiative aims at Education, Empowerment & Bridging of general population with the authorities.

Support of the Indian Police for the initiative

Bridging is the most unique attribute of the initiative. We have a host of over 70+ senior police officers from across the country supporting us in content & awareness drive.

This unique strength helps us address any victim complaints that come to us as well as inform people about various measures of law enforcement across the country.

Multilingual AI Chat helpline for cyber safety

The post Are You A Social Media Addict? #AAH appeared first on Akancha Srivastava Foundation.

Impact Of Online Peer Pressure! #AAH

Akancha Srivastava — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 04:00:58 +0000

Impact Of Online Peer Pressure! #AAH

Making friends, fitting-in and feeling like you belong can be a daily challenge especially for young people

Taking risks to feel accepted

The changing nature of social norms online and their increased need to feel part of the group can push them to take risks online that they otherwise wouldn’t.
This could be feeling pressured to take part in a prank and posting it on social media for all to see, sending a nude to someone they may like, to show they’re really interested or taking part in cyberbullying.

As well as this, young people may actively chase likes and followers to prove to others that they are popular and well-liked without a clear understanding of how this might put them at risk.

Being part of a group that encourages anti-social behaviour can negatively impact children’s perception of what is also acceptable offline.

If a child feels pressured to send a nude to show their commitment in a relationship or their image is shared after a break-up, this can create anxiety and stress.

The pressure to be accepted into a group of friends may make your child feel they have to do what is asked of them. This may be humiliating and is often for the ‘entertainment’ of the other people in the group who are not genuine friends.

Safety tips-

Create clear rules about what they should and shouldn’t do online.

Help them recognize when they feel pressured into doing something (i.e. fear of being humiliated, losing a friendship, being isolated, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out))

Help them feel confident about saying no if they are asked to do something that puts them or others at risk

Help them understand that it’s important not to take everything at face value and that it’s important to challenge, check and question things that seem too good to be true or may put them or others at risk

Make sure they understand that creating or sending a nude image of a young person under 18 is against the law. Teach perils of sexting.

Most importantly teach them critical thinking so that they can distinguish between right and wrong and stand up for their own beliefs.

Stay Aware, Stay Safe

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

PS- We have referred to online articles on the subject.

CONTACT US:

Twitter: @AkanchaS

Instagram: @akanchas

Facebook:

LinkedIn:

ABOUT ‘AKANCHA AGAINST HARASSMENT’

Honorary Board of advisors

Goals of this initiative

The initiative aims at Education, Empowerment & Bridging of general population with the authorities.

Support of the Indian Police for the initiative

Bridging is the most unique attribute of the initiative. We have a host of over 70+ senior police officers from across the country supporting us in content & awareness drive.

This unique strength helps us address any victim complaints that come to us as well as inform people about various measures of law enforcement across the country.

Multilingual AI Chat helpline for cyber safety

We run India’s only private national multilingual AI chat helpline for cyber safety. This helpline is currently available in Hindi & English on our website. It can be accessed from any internet enabled device. You can chat here anonymously, fearlessly.

The post Impact Of Online Peer Pressure! #AAH appeared first on Akancha Srivastava Foundation.

Beauty Of Internet! #AAH

Akancha Srivastava — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 07:33:45 +0000

Beauty Of Internet! #AAH

Deepta Nagpal, a seasoned dietitian and nutrition educator talks about beauty of internet.

Deepta studied at the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. She has worked in various elite medical research institutes in India and is currently settled in Europe. Being this far away from family, internet/ technology has played a key role in staying connected to her near and dear ones as well as her daughters getting to know them from distance.

Deepta is the founder of ‘Beyond Kilos and Inches’, which has been voted amongst the best online diet consulting programs. She has used technology to her best advantage by counselling thousands of people online, who are based across the world. You can read more about her work at- https://deeptanagpal.com/about/

At the same time Deepta makes very important points about mindful use of technology at her home. As a parent, it’s a duty to handhold children in mindful use of technology, limiting consumption of online data & creating tech free zones at home where nobody uses phones like at the dining table. We are delighted to hear about such wise decisions as this is exactly what we teach to parents & children.

Do watch her speak about the effect of technology on health/ mind & the magic really is knowing how to use it fairly for our purpose.

Stay Aware, Stay Safe

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

PS- we have taken reference material from various reliable articles too.

CONTACT US:

Twitter: @AkanchaS

Instagram: @akanchas

Facebook:

LinkedIn:

ABOUT ‘AKANCHA AGAINST HARASSMENT’

Honorary Board of advisors

Goals of this initiative

The initiative aims at Education, Empowerment & Bridging of general population with the authorities.

Support of the Indian Police for the initiative

Bridging is the most unique attribute of the initiative. We have a host of over 70+ senior police officers from across the country supporting us in content & awareness drive.

This unique strength helps us address any victim complaints that come to us as well as inform people about various measures of law enforcement across the country.

Multilingual AI Chat helpline for cyber safety

The post Beauty Of Internet! #AAH appeared first on Akancha Srivastava Foundation.

FIX INSTAGRAM SETTINGS! #AAH

Akancha Srivastava — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 13:51:10 +0000

FIX INSTAGRAM SETTINGS! #AAH

Immediately log into your Instagram account right now & fix these settings right now!

First- what if you saw that someone is using your account, you will be shocked if your account has posted which you never uploaded. Scary right? Go to your account setting, Account Center, password & security, check for login devices and log out of any unrecognized devices , mark it as – not me!

Second- revoke access of any third party apps you might have given access to, immediately. These apps are mining your data, selling it, tracking your location, being used for fraudulent purposes. Settings & Privacy- Website permission- Apps & Websites- revoke access.

Third- Disable Contact sync, puts your friends and every single person in your contact list at risk. Not only you but everyone you know, their data is exposed and vulnerable.

Make these changes right away! Settings- Account Center- Your information & permission- Upload contact data

Please disconnect your turn off this permission!

Additionally you can set your messages only from those you follow to land in your inox and all others as requests. It’s going to bring you lots of peace of mind especially if you are someone who someone who is a public personality or receive a lot of DMs.

Stay Aware, Stay Safe.

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

PS- We have also included relevant content from articles/posts available on the subject, online.

CONTACT US:

Twitter: @AkanchaS

Instagram: @akanchas

Facebook:

LinkedIn:

ABOUT ‘AKANCHA AGAINST HARASSMENT’

Honorary Board of advisors

Goals of this initiative

The initiative aims at Education, Empowerment & Bridging of general population with the authorities.

Support of the Indian Police for the initiative

Bridging is the most unique attribute of the initiative. We have a host of over 65+ senior police officers from across the country supporting us in content & awareness drive.

This unique strength helps us address any victim complaints that come to us as well as inform people about various measures of law enforcement across the country.

Multilingual AI Chat helpline for cyber safety

The post FIX INSTAGRAM SETTINGS! #AAH appeared first on Akancha Srivastava Foundation.

THIS IS A LIE! #AAH

Akancha Srivastava — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 04:08:16 +0000

THIS IS A LIE! #AAH

Recently, there is a social media ‘influencer’ campaign all over different platforms which claims that if someone has distributed your morphed/indecent pictures/ videos then if you send them the original content along with the objectionable one and this particular organization will “remove it from ALL places on the internet”!!

THIS IS A LIE!

Watch this video to know why, why nobody can make this promise, why this assurance is a blatant lie! We have filed a formal complaint with the Indian Police. This video is important so you dont fall prey to such misleading claims.

Stay Aware, Stay Safe

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat

CONTACT US:

Twitter: @AkanchaS

Instagram: @akanchas

Facebook:

LinkedIn: