It was 2 a.m. Sreedevi, mother of 15-year old Meera (names changed), woke up feeling thirsty. As she walked into the kitchen past her daughter’s room, she heard murmurs from inside.

She realised, her daughter was on a phone call and overheard the conversation taking place at a time when the whole world was fast asleep. Initially, it appeared a harmless conversation between two teenagers.

But, Sreedevi got the shock of her life when the whole tele-talk soon veered towards eroticism. The grunting and moaning that could be heard through the carelessly closed bedroom door was enough. Like several others, Meera too is addicted to phone sex.

Phone sex is nothing but a modern mechanism with which one finds orgasm through conversation sans a physical relationship. Kerala cyber police, private detectives and psychologists confirm that phone sex, is catching on with youngsters these days.

Dhanya Menon, a private detective says, she’s being engaged by many concerned parents to snoop into the not-so-desirable activities of their wards. “It’s not a crime per se. But when parents ask us, we can’t say no. It’s our job,” she said.

An audio file of one such conversation available with Deccan Chronicle shows that phone sex often starts with a euphemistic question like ‘what’re you wearing?’ But, it’s just an opening sentence that culminates in the process of undressing!

Most participants in phone sex, known as partners, know how to take the conversation forward to arouse the sexual urge by expressing their steamy desires and sexual fantasies. Besides phone sex, the market is also flooded with recorded audio clips of abusive conversations.

The cyber police confirm there’re several groups operating underground which produce such audio clips and sell them online to make a few quick bucks. They also know that such clips are getting transferred from computers to phones and vice versa.

Sub inspector Kochi special branch Mohammed Nizar says erotic audio clips are sold in the markets of all major cities. However, cyber police officials say they can’t act in the absence of specific complaints.

“These kind of audio clips accessed on Internet. But, we can’t do anything about it,” one official confessed. Nizar said people were ready to pay huge amounts for the latest release of such erotic clips.

“These clips are sold at different rates, based on the quality and length of the audio. They’re as hit as the porn video clips. And, customers range from school children to senior citizens”, he revealed.

Nizar says it’s strange that audio clips containing abusive conversations in which a female and male swear at each other are a huge hit amongst Malayalees. “Listening to erotic clips is understandable, but not abusive ones,’’ he quipped.

The cyber police have found that the interest to surf the Internet for obscene material is on the wane as phone sex has become more popular; probably because no police can book two youngsters if they decide to talk about sex.

However, a youngster from Kottayam says it is boredom and lack of attention from girlfriends that prompts one to move towards phone sex. “For me, it’s the best way to cool off and maintain some sanity. It’s naughty, but it helps you unwind,” he suggested.

Health practitioner Dr Aby Lukose, however, doesn’t believe so. He describes phone sex as the height of perversion caused by a culture of warped values and the abuse of technology. He also warns that it could lead to depression and a nervous breakdown.