Internet rape - are you safe? - fr asiaone

16-year-old Amanda (not her real name) is your typical teenager who enjoys hanging out with her friends and surfing the Internet.

There was something irresistible and liberating about the way she could just come home from school, throw her real identity out the window and take up whatever persona she liked online. With her cute nicknames, Amanda never fell short of online friends who enjoyed chatting with her.

Her favourite friend, though, was 29-year-old 'bikerboy2000', who was always sweet, considerate and knew exactly what to say. Both exchanged personal information and she soon found out his real name (for this purpose, let's call him John).

In return, Amanda revealed her own name, school and contact number without any qualms as she trusted him and wanted to meet him.

John finally asked her out for lunch three days later and Amanda agreed, albeit reluctantly at first. Her first impression of him was that John was shy and boyish. But his constant praise of her beauty had Amanda hooked - she felt like a princess in his company.

On their second date, John said he liked her a lot and asked Amanda to be his girlfriend. She was elated and couldn't believe her luck. She was so smitten that when John invited her to his place on their third date, she hurried over brimming with anticipation.

That was when Amanda's luck ran out. John started to get physically close to her, and when she pulled away and asked what he was up to, John attacked her. Dazed and confused, realisation slowly sank in. Amanda had been raped.

Time stood still - five, ten, even 20 minutes could have passed - she wasn't sure but after the ordeal ended, Amanda dashed out of John's house and ran straight home.

Her grades plummeted as Amanda battled with feelings of worthlessness, shame as well as the fear of pregnancy and parental rejection. She withdrew from her friends and family until she one day, she couldn't hold it back no longer.

She told her close friends about the awful experience and received intensive counselling. She made a police report and identified John, who's currently being investigated.

Amanda soon learnt that she wasn't the first girl that John had raped. Despite feeling angry at her own stupidity, she also learnt a valuable lesson from her experience. She's now a more Internet savvy user and understands what to do to avoid becoming a victim.

Her advice to fellow Internet chat addicts - NEVER reveal your identity or address online, as well as your school, mobile number or online profile (such as Friendster or Facebook) as your identity can be easily traced.

Be careful of people with seemingly innocent nicknames and dispositions online. Ultimately, do not meet up with strangers you meet while chatting, even if they insist on doing so.

After all, prevention is always better than cure.

Frankly - This too can happen to anyone....the young and naive, the older and risk-all, plus those who are just too itchy and anyhow go find trouble for themselves. Just about all sorts of people doing this...for just FUN?