Students lodge report over doctored images, upskirting on campus

A student group has lodged a police report over alleged upskirting targeting female students at Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT) in Kuala Lumpur.

The TAR Association New Youth (Tarany) also complained that photos of female students, including from other universities, were supposedly being stolen from the students’ social media accounts to be doctored into sexually explicit images.

The report was lodged at the Wangsa Maju district police headquarters by Tarany vice president and treasurer Yong Kong, accompanied by the group’s president Lee Yong En.

Representatives from another student group, New Generation of University of Malaya, also turned up to show support.

Speaking to reporters later, Yong said the police report was made to prevent such incidents from recurring.

He said the issue became known on Aug 18 when someone posted on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu claiming photos were being taken from beneath female students’ skirts on campus.

Subsequently, a post appeared on social media platform X indicating that people could join a Telegram group to access the photos for a fee of about RM20 to RM35.

However, Yong said some students claimed they were blocked immediately after paying the fee, making it difficult to verify whether the X users were indeed connected to the voyeurs.

Since the photos were taken from beneath skirts and did not show the victims’ faces, Yong said they were not able to identify the victims.

Nevertheless, Tarany representative Kellyn Wong Xing Yi said the background of the images showed they occurred on the TAR UMT campus.

Edited photos

In addition to the upskirting incidents, Yong said female students at TAR UMT recently had their photos stolen and modified into sexually explicit images.

“At the same time, the X accounts are stealing photos of female TAR UMT students from Instagram, making inappropriate modifications, engaging in verbal harassment, and maliciously creating inappropriate images; causing severe psychological and emotional trauma to the victims.

“It is understood that these accounts have a large group on Telegram where they share these photos and invite others to maliciously manipulate these images.”

Yong said they reported these incidents to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

“We have reported the incidents to the MCMC, and today we formally filed a police report to assist in the investigations.

“We believe that reporting these cases is a crucial step to ensure that the victims receive the protection and justice they deserve,” he said.

Yong noted that in the case of the manipulated photos, they contacted eight victims - two were aware of the issue, while the rest were unaware.

He said one of the victims already lodged a police report on Aug 19.

Encourage more victims to report

After lodging today’s police report, Lee said the police suggested they also report the case to the MCMC to request an investigation and to block the relevant accounts.

“But of course, in these circumstances, it is more effective if the victims to come forward and lodge the report themselves.

“So, one of the reasons we launched a police report was also to encourage more victims to report to the police and MCMC because they are the victims, and only then the authorities will take it more seriously and start to investigate,” he said.

Lee said victims can reach out to TAR UMT for support if needed.

He added that such incidences of stolen and inappropriately doctored images have not only targetted TAR UMT students but also students of other universities and potentially even working adults.

“So, we also hope that the public can also have the awareness of what is happening.

“We do know that the school is also working with the police […] We did also pass the evidence to the police officer, so they said they already take note, and so we hope they can start the investigation and take any action if they could,” Lee said.

Last year, students accused TAR UMT of inaction over an incident where female students were photographed in an explicit manner in their swimwear without their consent.

The university’s management responded with a statement claiming “appropriate disciplinary action” was taken following a disciplinary hearing.

Man who took upskirt video at mall nabbed

Access to social media, porn causing social problems among kids - cops

Teo: Social media licence to curb cybercrimes, hold providers to account

Govt urges online sexual harassment victims to lodge police reports