By Taiwo Farotimi
The fad these days is for people, particularly the youth, to take photos of themselves and share on social media. With such photos are often comments about the activities of persons in front of the camera, either over the weekend or at some events being put on record. Now, this may invite trouble instead of the fame that the persons posting such photos on social media intended to court.
There are indications that selfies published in any forum, particularly on social media, can expose people’s location. In fact, some people can also examine the pupils of the eye to get the address of the person in the photo. The danger here is that such findings can be used for criminal intentions. A report states that Police in Japan have apprehended a man who used his findings in the selfies taken by a celebrity in the country to trace her to her address.
Twenty-six-year-old Hibiki Sato was said to have trailed the unsuspecting 20-year-old woman to her home, where he allegedly pushed her to the ground, groped and also injured the woman.
The authorities therefore warned against taking selfies and posting them on social media, as the woman did. It said that even one selfie could give enough information for a criminal to use. For instance, it said that a selfie could show some buildings which can be located by the criminal, which will then be used to locate the person in the image. It even warned that when taking a selfie, people should desist from making the victory sign, as their fingerprint could be stolen.
It is, however, not certain how that could be done, but the outcome of Sato’s activities is a confirmation that selfies innocently taken and posted on social media are capable of giving people away. And it also shows that such knowledge could be used for malicious objectives.
In the case of Sato, he studied the photos shared on social media by his victim to locate her home. First he is said to have studied the reflections of her eyelids in the photos. With that he was able to get information on certain peculiar features in her apartment. Some of the selfies also showed the train station she uses frequently to get the area. Sato, who is said to be a fan of the woman, also used other photos she shared to detect her apartment and the neighbourhood.
The day he finally found her out, he attacked her from behind, wrestled her to the ground and groped her. She was injured in the process.
