There is a popular saying in the cyber security field – 'It's easier to fool a human than a machine.'

This is the reason why hackers nowadays adopt many rules of hacking a computer or device in a cyber attack to gain the user's trust and break passwords and 'credentials'. However, such work is not limited to hackers.

During cyber dating, it has been found that even some 'intimate partners' do things like llifekai or emotional pressure by asking for each other's passwords, chatting more online, and threatening. A recent study report on adolescents and young adults at risk of online intimate partner violence in Nepal. 

16-year-old AB (name changed) from Kathmandu befriended a young man through Instagram. At first they had a pleasant conversation. A few months later, the friend started asking for Abby's Facebook password.

After Abby refused, her partner initially complained that he would not do this after being a girlfriend-boyfriend. Abby felt like giving it to her, but she didn't think it was right. Those 'online boyfriends' of hers started sending threatening messages. "He was talking randomly, swearing," Abby said, "and then I blocked him." 

19-year-old CD (name changed) from Chitwan also told that she developed a relationship with a person through an online dating app and although everything seemed fine at first, the person later threatened to 'forward' her personal photos to others.

'He had to wake up when he called, had to make video calls until 2 am, became very obsessed with me,' says CD, 'He even blackmailed me saying that he would forward my private photos to others after talking about the break-up.' CD said that the man apologized as soon as the sister said that she would talk to him and take him to the police. 

The experiences of these two teenagers reflect the dangers of online intimate relationships. The report on "Violence in Online Intimate Relationships among Adolescents and Youth" conducted by "ChildSafenet" in collaboration with the "Sexual Violence Research Initiative" has also shown that adolescents and young people are at risk of various types of violence due to online intimate relationships. 

In a survey conducted among 5,300 participants in the age group of 16 to 24 years from all seven provinces, about 25 percent said that such violence had happened to them. In such cases, the victims have said that they face more violence, threats and abuse from their 'ex-partners'. In the survey, 40.5 percent of the participants from 10 districts and 13 municipalities disclosed that they had an intimate relationship through online means in the past or present. 

Even though digital platforms are an easy way for teenagers and young people to make friends and establish love relationships, studies have shown that when these technologies are misused, love can sometimes take the form of violence. In the study, various aspects of violence such as cyberstalking, not allowing to talk to others or even like or comment on others' posts, sending insulting and threatening messages, asking for passwords, and revenge porn, have been revealed in the study.

In our survey, one out of four people who were in an intimate relationship said that they had experienced online intimate partner violence,' said researcher Tulsa Khadka Those in long-term relationships are at high risk of such violence. Anil Raghuvanshi, president of ChildSafenet, commented that since the law of Nepal does not recognize the intimate relationship of unmarried couples, such problems rarely reach the police or courts. 

Advocate Shanti Rizal Kafle, who argued on behalf of a teenager in a case filed by a teenager claiming that her online conversation and meeting with a famous cricketer turned into rape, says that there is a tendency to blame the victim in such incidents.

She pointed out that since such incidents usually take place in private places, it is difficult to gather evidence and the character of the victim is assassinated. "In that incident, many threats of abuse, death or rape came to the victim using social media," Kafle said, "Her personal details were made public, a YouTube channel was opened to promote the victim and humiliate the victim."