Bhubaneswar, Oct. 30: A 23-year-old girl from Angul had never imagined that friendship through a social networking site would land her in trouble.

She had befriended a 41-year-old married person from Bhubaneswar on a social networking site a year ago, only to be misled by his fake pictures and false identity on the site.

Both of them came to know each other through chats, and as the “virtual” relationship went on for a year, exchanged their mobile numbers.

Finally, both decided to meet over lunch at a Bhubaneswar hotel last week. Only after meeting the man in person, the girl, an arts graduate, came to know that his details, including his picture, that were posted in his profile, were all fake.

“While chatting on the site, he had mentioned that he is an engineer and also a university topper. But, when I met him, I found him to be quite a different person that what he had claimed on the website. He also asked me to stay with him for a day. But sensing trouble, I refused to do so,” said the girl.

Not only her, but many other girls are also falling prey to dubious people who often impress them by posting false information on such sites.

Recently, four girls have registered a complaint with the State Commission for Women after being cheated by fake profile holders on social networking sites. Each of these girls, belonging to various parts of the state, alleged that they were cheated after building the “virtual” relationships through the websites.

“I accepted a friend request from a man on a social networking site six months ago. He told me that he was a doctor. We exchanged our mobile numbers. He also proposed to marry me. Later, I came to know that he was already married and was not a doctor as well,” alleged a girl from Mayurbhanj.

Mamata Samantray, a women’s rights activist said that she came across several such cases of misrepresentation of facts on social networking sites.

“With technical evolution, fake profiles have become a tool to cheat girls,” said Samantray.

She also demanded that the state government should come up with a law to deal with such cases.

There are several cases of social networking sites are being misused. The recent example of a 22-year-old girl, who was allegedly gang raped by three youths in a forest on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar in July, had also exposed the misuse of social networking sites. The incident had occurred after one of the accused had taken the girl for a date after becoming her friend through a social networking site.

“The girl had befriended one of the accused through a networking site. Both of them had even exchanged their phone numbers through the site. All the three persons involved in the crime were arrested,” said inspector in charge of Mahila police station Sarojini Nayak.

Sources said the Bhubaneswar police had received as many as six complaints of nude photographs being posted on social networking sites through creation of fake profiles in the last six months. The police have referred the cases to crime branch, which deals with the cyber crimes.

“Most of the times, the victims hesitate to report the matter. The police need to modernise their skills to track such crimes. The sites must device techniques to prevent browsers from posting objectionable photos,” said Sambeet Das, a lawyer from Cuttack.