VICTIMS of sexual assault are being encouraged by Australian police officers to extract phone confessions from their attackers.

But critics say the “pretext phone calls” are fraught with danger and may further traumatise rape victims.

Elka told ABC’s Lateline she was allegedly raped last year by a man she met on Tinder. She reported the alleged incident to Queensland Police but was not prepared for the investigation that lay ahead.

Elka, 21, told Lateline she met the man at his house, to watch a movie, after weeks of exchanging messages on Tinder.

“When I met him, I thought it was he was just like he was on the phone,” Elka said.

“He was a very gentle kind of timid guy, but we had a very good rapport.”

The next morning, she woke up with the man on top of her, naked.

“He had pinned my arms up beside my head,” Elka told Lateline. “I can just remember feeling so, so confused and so vulnerable and not believing that this was happening.”

Elka told the ABC she reported the incident to the police. But she was shocked when the two officers dealing with her case asked her if she would confront her alleged attacker in a phone conversation.

The calls are usually initiated by the victim under the supervision of law enforcement officers

The purpose is to solicit incriminating statements linking the suspect to the crime

However, advocate groups warn the calls can be traumatic for sexual assault survivors and deter them from reporting future attacks.

“It just felt really invasive,” Elka told the ABC. “The fact that I had to have this very, very personal conversation about what happened to the person who did it.”

Elka told Lateline she made the call but her alleged attacker did not state that he had raped her, although he implied that he had hurt her.

The ABC said Queensland Police concluded in their report that Elka’s alleged attacker made a “partial admission” during the recorded conversation.

Despite this, police dropped the case. A month later, Elka said she was sexually assaulted again but did not report it to police as she did not want to be put in a situation where she might have to confront her attacker again.

Kellie Wilk, from the Gold Coast Centre Against Sexual Violence, said that survivors should not be put in a position where they feel emotionally responsible for investigating their own case.

Pauline Wright, president of the Law Society of NSW, said the calls can also interfere with accused perpetrators’ rights to silence.

“If you know that you’re being accused of a crime, then you’ve got the right to either make a statement or not make a statement,” she said.