Pimps take to social media and communication tools to seal sex deals with clients
BY OUR STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, Nov 28: Leaving the police clueless, prostitution in the State capital here has gone hi-tech with pimps and “service providers” increasingly taking to social media and communication applications to seal sex deals with clients.
Sources told The Sentinel that such new modus operandi to run sex rackets has become popular as it is turning out to be the safest mode to avoid police and other hassles. A large high class clientele is using this novel way to protect privacy.
“Using social media, the pimps show photographs of call girls to prospective customers and once the deal is sealed, the client is provided the route map to the hideout. A large number of advertisements of prostitution services are on the virtual world and one can easily get the contact details of the pimps (or, service providers, as they are known in the flesh trade parlance) by searching online with keywords such as ‘find an escort in Guwahati’ or ‘find a call girl in Guwahati’, or ‘women seeking men’,” the source said.
Sources said normally prospective customers first find the phone number of a “service provider” online and subsequently ping him or her on WhatsApp to find out what he has on offer. After the conversation goes this way for some time, the sex deal is sealed.
The tentacles of the pimps are widespread and the call girl profiles they have on offer range right from college-goers and homemakers who are looking to make some extra money, to minor girls and women from poverty-stricken parts of the State and even neighboring North-eastern States.
According to sources, the pimps have also devised another safe strategy for their “reliable and long-term” customers, who would wish to take away the girls. They keep their cars parked at particular areas which normally do not raise suspicion of the police and public in general. The customers just go there, pick up the girls of their choice from among those in the vehicle, and later drop them off at the same place after a few hours.
The pimps have contracts and understanding with the call girls. Some receive payment for their service on daily basis, while others receive the same on yearly basis. Sources said the call girls normally get 60 per cent of what the customer pays and the pimp takes the rest.
Sources said Guwahati Police are having a tough time in catching those running their hi-tech prostitution racket with the help social media and various communication applications.
“It is too tough to track them as they seal the deals on a one-on-one basis, and that too by using codes which only they know about. Majority of the pimps use SIM cards with fake identity proofs. They change their contact numbers at frequent intervals to prevent the police from tracking them,” a City Police official told The Sentinel.
Sources said in many cases the girls rescued during police raids most often continue in the profession subsequently.
“There have been instances when the pimps posed as their legal guardians at rehabilitation centres and brought them back to the business,” the source said.
It has also been learnt that even though apartment-based prostitution rackets were flourishing in the city a few years back, awareness among flat owners and residents have forced those running prostitution rackets to devise new ways to avoid social and police hassles. Use of social media and communication applications to seal sex deals with clients is the latest one.