Cheap AI tools have made a crime that used to need real skill available to anyone with a phone and a grudge. A face lifted from a public profile, placed on a body that is not yours, in a photograph or a video that never happened — and then circulated to your family, your employer or your community.
If this has happened to you, two things are true and both matter. It is an offence, and there is a defined way to have it taken down. It is also not your fault, and the shame it is designed to produce is precisely what stops most victims from using the remedies that exist.
Do this first, in this order
- Do not delete anything and do not confront the person publicly.
- Preserve the evidence: the URL of every post, the profile ID of whoever posted it, full-screen screenshots including the address bar and the date, and the messages if you were sent the material directly. Save the file itself where it is safe to do so.
- Report to the platform using its non-consensual intimate imagery or impersonation route — not the generic report button. These reports are handled faster than almost anything else platforms deal with.
- Report to the FIA Cybercrime Wing, in person at a reporting centre, through its online portal or by its helpline.
- Tell one person you trust. Isolation is what the offender is relying on.
The offences
The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 covers this from several directions, and which section is applied shapes how the case is investigated:
- Section 21 — offences against the modesty of a natural person or a minor. This is the core provision. It expressly reaches the superimposition of a person's face onto sexually explicit material and its distribution, and it carries the heaviest penalties in the statute. Where a minor is involved it is graver still.
- Section 20 — offences against the dignity of a natural person, for false material that harms reputation.
- Section 16 — unauthorised use of identity information.
- Section 24 — cyberstalking, where there is repeated contact, monitoring or intimidation.
- Section 13 — electronic forgery, where the material is presented as genuine.
Separately, section 37 gives the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority power to require removal or blocking of unlawful online content, and the PTA operates a complaint system that runs in parallel with the criminal process. Use both — they do different things at different speeds.
What a strong complaint contains
Investigators receive a great many complaints that say only "my picture has been made fake, please take action". Yours should say, in order: who you are with a CNIC copy; the exact URLs and profile identifiers; when you discovered it; what the material is; where it has been circulated and to whom; the harm caused; whether you know or suspect who is responsible and on what basis; and a list of the annexed evidence.
Where the material was sent to your contacts, ask two or three of them to preserve what they received. Independent copies are powerful evidence that distribution occurred.
If it is being used to extort you
Sextortion follows a script: the material, a demand, a deadline, and a threat to send it to a named relative. Break the script.
- Do not pay. Payment has never ended one of these; it identifies you as someone who pays.
- Do not send anything further, and stop replying.
- Keep every message, including the demands — extortion is a separate and serious offence, and the demand is the evidence of it.
- Report immediately. The FIA treats active extortion as urgent, and there are dedicated helplines.
- If you are a student or a young woman being pressured, tell a parent, a teacher or a helpline before the deadline they gave you. The threat loses most of its power the moment someone else knows.
The civil claim
Criminal proceedings punish the offender; they do not compensate you. Where real damage has been done — a broken engagement, a lost job, a business relationship destroyed — a suit for defamation under the Defamation Ordinance, 2002, seeking damages and an injunction restraining further publication, runs independently of the criminal case and can be filed alongside it.
Realistic expectations
Platform removal is usually the fastest relief and often comes within days. Identifying an anonymous offender depends on the platform responding to a formal request from the investigating agency, and that is slow — much faster where the account was operated from a local number or a traceable device. Prosecution takes months and requires you to stay engaged; complainants who stop attending are the main reason these cases collapse.
This article describes general remedies under Pakistani cyber law and is not advice on any particular incident. Which provisions apply, and what relief is realistically available, depend on the material, the platform and the evidence preserved. Contact the FIA Cybercrime Wing as early as you can, and speak to an advocate about the civil claim.