From Scams to Silence Pakistani Women Face Double Victimisation Online

 In today’s digital age, the internet has become both a space of opportunity and a ground for exploitation. For women in Pakistan, the online world often presents a double burden: they are not only targeted by scams and fraud but also silenced by harassment, intimidation, and social stigma. This combination creates a cycle of vulnerability that pushes many women out of digital spaces where their voices are desperately needed.

Financial Scams: The First Layer of Exploitation

Online fraud has become a growing menace in Pakistan. From phishing links to fake shopping websites and fraudulent payment gateways, cybercriminals are constantly finding new ways to trap unsuspecting users. Women, in particular, are frequently targeted because many of them are less familiar with advanced cybersecurity practices or rely on online platforms for small businesses, freelancing, and household shopping.

Cases of women losing thousands of rupees through unauthorized transactions or fake investment schemes are increasingly reported. For many, these losses are not just financial setbacks they undermine confidence in digital banking and restrict economic participation. In a country where female financial independence is already limited, such scams create yet another barrier.

Harassment and Intimidation: Silencing Women Online

Beyond financial fraud lies a more sinister challenge: online harassment. Women journalists, activists, and ordinary social media users often face abuse, threats, and campaigns designed to discredit or humiliate them.

Harassment campaigns: Coordinated trolling, fake accounts, and derogatory comments are deployed to discourage women from sharing opinions online.

Threats and blackmail: Some women are targeted through the misuse of personal information, hacked accounts, or stolen images. Others face the threat of deepfake content or doctored images used as tools of blackmail.

Chilling effect: The fear of reputational damage or family backlash often forces women into silence. Many prefer self-censorship to the risk of humiliation.

The result is not just personal harm but a collective silencing of women’s perspectives in national debates, journalism, and public dialogue.

Legal and Social Gaps

Pakistan has cybercrime laws in place, and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) operates a cybercrime wing. However, implementation remains weak, and cases involving women are often treated with insensitivity. Many victims hesitate to report incidents due to fear of further stigma or distrust in law enforcement.

Social barriers also play a role. Women who speak up risk being judged or blamed for their own victimisation. Instead of receiving empathy, they are often asked why they shared content online or engaged in digital spaces at all. This victim-blaming culture reinforces silence and allows abusers to operate with impunity.

The Human Cost of Silence

The double victimisation first by scams, then by harassment has deep psychological and social consequences. Women who are active in public life withdraw from online spaces, fearing both financial loss and personal attack. Journalists lose platforms to tell critical stories. Activists reduce their visibility to avoid trolling campaigns. Entrepreneurs close online shops because they cannot trust digital transactions.

This enforced silence not only weakens women’s presence but also damages the democratic fabric of society. When women’s voices are pushed out of digital forums, half of the population’s perspective is excluded from the national conversation.

The Way Forward

Tackling this issue requires a multi-layered response:

1. Stronger enforcement: Authorities must strengthen cybercrime units, improve investigation procedures, and handle women’s complaints with confidentiality and sensitivity.

2. Digital literacy: Training programs for women in schools, universities, and communities should focus on online safety, privacy tools, and recognizing fraud.

3. Support systems: Civil society organisations, helplines, and digital rights groups should expand their outreach, offering victims legal advice, counseling, and advocacy.

4. Platform responsibility: Social media companies must act swiftly against harassment reports, improve reporting mechanisms, and provide transparency in content moderation.

5. Cultural change: Most importantly, society must move away from victim-blaming. Families, workplaces, and communities should support women who face digital abuse rather than silencing them.

Conclusion

The challenges faced by Pakistani women online highlight a troubling reality: the digital space, meant to empower and connect, has become another arena of gendered violence. From financial scams that exploit vulnerability to harassment that enforces silence, women face a double burden. Yet solutions exist, if pursued collectively with stronger laws, digital education, institutional accountability, and cultural transformation.Until then, countless women will continue to ask for help but remain unheard trapped between scams and silence in the very spaces that promised them freedom.