Bharat Jyoti Consumer Council celebrated the National Consumer Day on 25th December 2023 at Lucknow Cancer Hospital Auditorium by organising two lectures from cyber experts from Lucknow Police Cyber Crime Branch. Shri Shishir Yadav, Cyber Police Investigator and his associate Shri Sunil Kumar. The gist of their lectures along with my inputs is presented here for the benefit of the members and general public.
What is Cyber-Crime?
Cyber crime can be defined as a crime or an unlawful act where the computer is used either as a tool, a target or both. In other terms, cyber crimes in India can be defined as an unauthorized access to some computer system without the permission of rightful owner or place of criminal activity and include everything from online cracking to denial of service attacks.
Some examples of Cyber crime include phishing, spoofing, DoS (Denial of Service) attack, credit card fraud, online transaction fraud, cyber defamation, child pornography, etc.
Cyber criminals always choose an easy way to make big money. They target rich people, Old retired Pensioners or rich organizations like banks and financial firms where the transaction of a huge amount of money is made on an everyday basis and hack sensitive information.
Catching such criminals is difficult. Hence, that increases the number of cyber-crimes.
DIFFERENT KINDS OF CYBER CRIMES
The different kinds of cyber crimes are:
1. Unauthorized Access and Hacking:
Unauthorized access means any kind of access without the permission of either of the rightful or person in charge of the computer/mobile phone, computer system or computer network. Hacking means an illegal intrusion into a computer system and/or network. Every act committed towards breaking into a computer and/or network is hacking. Hackers write or use ready-made computer programs to attack the target computer. They possess the desire to destruct and they get the kick out of such destruction. Some hackers hack for personal monetary gains, such as to stealing the credit card information, transferring money from various bank accounts to their own account followed by withdrawal of money.
2. Web Hijacking:
Web hijacking means taking forceful control of another person's website. In this case the owner of the website loses control over his website and its content.
3. Pornography:
Pornography means showing sexual acts in order to cause sexual excitement. The definition of pornography also includes pornographic websites, pornographic magazines produced using computer and the internet pornography delivered over mobile phones.
4. Child Pornography:
The Internet is being highly used as a medium to sexually abuse children. The children are viable victim to the cyber crime. Computers and internet having become a necessity of every household, the children have got an easy access to the internet. There is an easy access to the pornographic contents on the internet. Pedophiles lure the children by distributing pornographic material and then they try to meet them for sex or to take their nude photographs including their engagement in sexual positions. Sometimes Pedophiles contact children in the chat rooms posing as teenagers or a child of similar age and then they start becoming friendlier with them and win their confidence. Then slowly pedophiles start sexual chat to help children shed their inhibitions about sex and then call them out for personal interaction. Then starts actual exploitation of the children by offering them some money or falsely promising them good opportunities in life. The pedophiles then sexually exploit the children either by using them as sexual objects or by taking their pornographic pictures in order to sell those over the internet.
5. Cyber Stalking:
In general terms, stalking can be termed as the repeated acts of harassment targeting the victim such as following the victim, making harassing phone calls, killing the victims pet, vandalizing victims property, leaving written messages or objects. Stalking may be followed by serious violent acts such as physical harm to the victim. Cyber Stalking means repeated acts of harassment or threatening behavior of the cyber criminal towards the victim by using internet services. Both kind of Stalkers i.e., Online & Offline – have desire to control the victims life.
How do Cyber Stalkers operate?
They collect all personal information about the victim such as name, family background, Telephone Numbers of residence and work place, daily routine of the victim, address of residence and place of work, date of birth etc. If the stalker is one of the acquaintances of the victim he can easily get this information. If stalker is a stranger to victim, he collects the information from the internet resources such as various profiles, the victim may have filled in while opening the chat or e-mail account or while signing an account with some website.
The stalker may post this information on any website related to sex-services or dating services, posing as if the victim is posting this information and invite the people to call the victim on her telephone numbers to have sexual services. Stalker even uses very filthy and obscene language to invite the interested persons.
People of all kind from nook and corner of the World, who come across this information, start calling the victim at her residence and/or work place, asking for sexual services or relationships.
Some stalkers subscribe the e-mail account of the victim to innumerable pornographic and sex sites, because of which victim starts receiving such kind of unsolicited e-mails.
Some stalkers keep on sending repeated e-mails asking for various kinds of favors or threaten the victim.
In online stalking the stalker can make third party to harass the victim.
Follow their victim from board to board. They "hangout" on the same BB's as their victim, many times posting notes to the victim, making sure the victim is aware that he/she is being followed. Many times they will "flame" their victim (becoming argumentative, insulting) to get their attention.
Stalkers will almost always make contact with their victims through email. The letters may be loving, threatening, or sexually explicit. He will many times use multiple names when contacting the victim.
Contact victim via telephone. If the stalker is able to access the victim's telephone, he will many times make calls to the victim to threaten, harass, or intimidate them.
Track the victim to his/her home.
6. Phishing:
Phishing is the act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user's information. By spamming large groups of people, the phisher counted on the e-mail being read by a percentage of people who actually had listed credit card numbers with legitimately.
7. Online gambling :
There are millions of websites; all hosted on servers abroad, that offer online gambling. In fact, it is believed that many of these websites are actually fronts for money laundering. Cases of hawala transactions and money laundering over the Internet have been reported.
PRECAUTIONS ONE WAS ADVISED TO TAKE
1. TRUST NOTHING VERIFY EVERY THING
2. ACTIVATE TWO STEP VERIFICATION FOR FACEBOOK AND WHATSAPP
3. NEVER SHARE YOUR PASSWORDS WITH ANYONE INCLUDING YOUR NEAR AND DEAR ONES
4. NEVER ALLOW YOUR CHILDREN TO DO MONETARY TRANSACTIONS FROM YOUR MOBILE PHONES AS THEY MAY PLAY HABIT FORMING GAMES LIKE PUBG
5. FREQUENTLY CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS
6. NEVER ACCEPT A VIDEO CALL FROM AN UNKNOWN NUMBER TO AVOID VIDEO CALL SCAMS AND THE DIGITAL ARREST WHICH IS IN NEWS RECENTLY. PUT YOUR FINGER ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE LENS IN CASE YOU ARE ATTENDING SUCH CALL.
7. NEVER HESITATE IN INFORMING POLICE IN CASE OF SUCH FRAUDS
8. NEVER BOOK A DOCTOR'S VISIT ON MOBILE
9. NEVER POST THE ITINARY (TO AVOID THE BOOKING FRAUDS) OF YOUR VISIT OR THE PHOTOS OF THE OUTSTATION PLACES YOU ARE CURRENTLY ON VISIT
10. IN CASE OF CYBER CRIME IMMEDIATELY REPORT ON "http://cybercrime.gov.in"
11. IN CASE OF BANK FRAUD IMMEDIATELY REPORT ON TELEPHONE NUMBER "1930"
12. FOR BLOCKING OF SIMS INFORM "TAFCOP"MODULE IN http://sancharsathi.gov.in PORTAL
13. MONETARY FRAUDS USUALLY TAKES PLACE DURING BANK HOLIDAYS