Editorial:

Let’s start a conversation in our homes about the use, misuse and abuse of social media.

There is a Fijian woman in prison in Malaysia. How did she end up there? She had befriended a man on social media. The mother of three was hoodwinked into flying to Hong Kong to meet with the man there. After spending some time in Hong Kong, he paid for her to fly to Malaysia with school bags which she was supposed to hand over to a relative of the man.

What was in the bag? Drugs. The only reason this woman has not faced the mandatory death penalty is because she is also a victim. She did not know there were drugs sewn inside the lining of the school bags. Her legal team fought hard for her to avoid the gallows. She was fortunate that they did but not so fortunate because she may spend the rest of her life in jail away from her country and her three children.

She is not the first Fijian to fall prey to men they met on social media. Another Fijian woman was arrested after the Financial Intelligence Unit had noted a large sum of money was deposited into her bank account from a dubious overseas source.

The young girl went on to withdraw a large portion of that money and was caught when she tried to send that money overseas.

Who had sent her that money? A man who had acquired money through criminal means and could not transfer it into his own account. He sent it out of his country, to a third country, out of jurisdiction after befriending this girl. She foolishly believed whatever story he had fed her, gave her bank details and was going to send off money through a money transfer service back to the guy.

What is common in these two scenarios? The use of social media to befriend young women and fool them into doing something criminal. No person is immune to this. Your children are vulnerable if they are not provided that environment at home to openly discuss who their social media friends are.

It becomes our duty to start that conversation in our homes.

Feedback:  jyotip@fijisun.com.fj