Novel crimes

Our lives have become much easier with the advent of newer technologies. We are now connected with the world at large through the means of the Internet. Smartphones, which were once considered a luxury, are now available at a very affordable cost. All the important documents and personal details including pictures are stored in smartphones and cloud devices. We are moving towards making everything 'smart' — phones, watches, bulbs, televisions, security systems etc. By using all these devices at our homes, we are also making our homes 'smart'. Though all these gadgets have made our lives easy and smart, they have also introduced concerns about modern crime, that is, cybercrime.

Cybercrimes are committed using computer, laptop or any other gadget and the Internet. It is a digital-era crime which is increasing at an alarming rate. People, in general, are finding it difficult to safeguard themselves from such crimes. An important issue of concern in these crimes is, more the number of Internet subscribers, more is the number of probable victims. As per the economic survey, till June 2021, the number of Internet subscribers in India had increased to 833.71 million.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the majority of services were made online and the use of the Internet further increased. The concern is not the number of subscribers, it is rather the lack of awareness among individuals, who often commit a mistake and fall into the trap of the cyber criminals. Majority of us have faced cyber-attack at least once in our lives; some of which we have ignored and some we have taken an action for. In the year 2022, till June 2022 itself, there had been more than six lakh cases of cyber incidents. There could be more cases that went unreported to the authorities.

Some common cybercrimes are: cyber fraud, sextortion, data breach, child pornography, identity theft, cyber bullying, hacking and so on. There has been a consistent rise in the cases related to such crimes.

Issues in dealing with cybercrimes

A major hurdle in dealing with cyber offences is the issue of investigation, as the crime is committed at a particular place using the medium registered at another place — geographical locations of the victim and the offender may differ. It is a boundaryless crime which does not require the physical presence of the accused with the victim. Also, in the cases of monetary fraud, it is very difficult to trace the money, if it is withdrawn from the bank account through an ATM or paid for any other services.

Furthermore, evidence in cases of cybercrime are also difficult to collect and produce in the court for securing the conviction of the accused. There are various safeguards that are required to be taken by an investigating officer while dealing with collection of evidence in cases of cyber-crime, as one mistake can reduce the value of the evidence.

Preventive measures

⁕ Do not hesitate to report the cases of cyber-crime. Report any cyber incident at 1930 (national helpline) or cybercrime.gov.in, or at the nearest cyber police station. An immediate action in these cases can be helpful.

⁕ Do not click on any unverified links or use any third-party application for downloading any material. Do not use any links for updating any application, use only the app store or play store for updating apps.

⁕ Before selling any phone, laptop or other electronic devices, ensure to clear the data and restore the device to factory setting for a minimum of 3-4 times. Furthermore, while selling or exchanging the device, ensure to take a proper receipt (including date and identity of the buyer) for the old device and a proper bill for the new device.

⁕ Do not fall prey to the fraudsters and blackmailers representing your picture or personal data, immediately report to the police regarding such an activity.

⁕ Do not share SIM cards, one-time passwords, bank account details, Aadhar card and Pan card details with anyone on calls. Share these only with authorised individuals when necessary.

⁕ Educate children and old people about cybercrime and methods of preventing it.

⁕ Keep a check on what the children are using on the Internet. Block any website from their devices, which is found to be suspicious or harmful.

⁕ At no point, share any personal photo with any individual or on any video call.

⁕ It is very essential to keep updating important applications that carry personal and financial details for any safety update given by the developer.

⁕ Also, the use of a good quality antivirus is recommended for all electronic devices that are connected to the Internet. Avoid using free trial antivirus packs.

⁕ Do not use open Wi-fi networks, unless it is very necessary.

⁕ Do not fall victim to the applications and calls that provide easy loans / money. Always conduct complete research before taking money from such sources. Before investing the money in any online platform, find out the complete details of the company / application.

Since the domain of cybercrime is evolving on a daily basis with new types of crimes coming up each passing day, it is very important for us to safeguard ourselves. We often tend to ignore things but this ignorance can be harmful when it comes to cyber-crime. Be vigilant and don't have fear to report the cases of cyber-crime. It is a modern-day crime and it is also said that in future, the biggest fear would be of cyber-crime. The Internet, when used for a good purpose, is the biggest blessing but it can also become a curse as it carries inherent risks with it. There have been cases in these crimes where people have even lost their lives, especially the teenage people. It is very important to open our eyes for any cyber incident and report the matter immediately to the Police.

Views expressed are personal