Cybercrimes escalate worries to female internet users

It goes beyond doubt that the concept of cybercrimes has developed with the development of the internet and its related benefits. When it comes to cybercrimes, Bangladesh is not far beyond the other countries where the rate of incidence of cyber crimes is increasing day by day.

When the internet serves as beneficial to the people in this era of technological advancement, one of the major disadvantages of internet is cyber crime-illegal activity committed on the internet.

Twenty-five year-old Raima (not real name) was horrified when she discovered that some nude photographs had been posted on her facebook messenger. One of her facebook friends began blackmailing Raima and sent the photos to rekindle the romance. Faced with rejection he posted intimate videos online.

 “Shocked, my daughter rushed to home and burst into tears before telling me everything,” the girl’s mother told BSS. Raima is just one of the many among a growing number of ‘revenge porn’ cases. Usually vindictive partners post nude or private photos on websites without his or her consent in an attempt to humiliate them.

In another incident, a woman was subjected to harassment after she had lost her smart phone, logged in with her email ID. Mithila came to know that a man found the phone as he called her. She requested the man to sign out from her email and also gave the man her phone’s password hoping that he would sign out from the email. Without paying any heed to her request the man downloaded her personal photos from her email account and threatened her to make them viral on social media if she did not agree to have an affair with him. Women are most frequently victimised compared to men by sharing pictures or violent videos in virtual world harming their reputation. Youngsters are often lured by hoax messages and fake identities in social media and they fall prey to offenders in cyber space as well as the real world. Cyber crimes that are commonly prevalent in social media are cyber defamation, cyber obscenity pornography, cyber stalking, hacking and privacy infringement.

According to the Cyber Security and Crime Division of DMP, 70 per cent of cybercrime victims were women and 57 per cent of them were between 18 and 25. Thirteen per cent of the victims were below 18. The unit came up with the findings after analyzing 666 cases and complaints over cyber-related offences filed with different police stations in the capital since 2016.

Deputy Commissioner of the division Alimuzzaman said many mobile phone and computer users were becoming victims of cyber crimes mainly due to lack of awareness about the offenses. The number of such victims was increasing day by day, he said, adding that the main challenge in dealing with such cases and arresting the culprits was the delay in reporting to police. He said many victims did not want to go to the law enforcers fearing that their identities would be revealed.

Referring to their analysis, the DC said in most of the cases, the accused spread defamatory and fake messages on online platforms and blogs using fake IDs and photos of the victims. The offenders also blackmail women after hacking their social media profiles, he said.

Alimuzzaman said one per cent of the 666 cases were related to terrorism, seven per cent to blackmailing or extortion, 14 per cent to pornography, 14 per cent to financial frauds, 20 per cent to hacking, 18 per cent to defamation, 20 per cent to fake IDs and six per cent to other issues.

According to the database of the cyber security and crime division, the specialized unit arrested 67 suspects and submitted charge sheets against 24 last year. Of the 666 complaints, the unit completed investigations of 233 cases last year. Although the division has 100 sanctioned posts, presently it has around 70 officials and other employees. To meet the growing challenge, the authorities have already proposed an organogram of 282 members. It is not possible to eliminate completely cyber crimes from the cyber space. No legislation has succeeded in totally eliminate crimes from the globe. The only possible step is to make people aware of their rights and duties and further making the application of laws more stringent to check cyber crimes. Moreover people need to be sensitized about the problem.

Cybercrimes escalate worries to female internet users

It goes beyond doubt that the concept of cybercrimes has developed with the development of the internet and its related benefits. When it comes to cybercrimes, Bangladesh is not far beyond the other countries where the rate of incidence of cyber crimes is increasing day by day. When the internet serves as beneficial to the people in this era of technological advancement, one of the major disadvantages of internet is cyber crime-illegal activity committed on the internet. Twenty-five year-old Raima (not real name) was horrified when she discovered that some nude photographs had been posted on her facebook messenger. One of her facebook friends began blackmailing Raima and sent the photos to rekindle the romance. Faced with rejection he posted intimate videos online. Shocked, my daughter rushed to home and burst into tears before telling me everything, the girls mother told BSS. Raima is just one of the many among a growing number of revenge porn cases. Usually vindictive partners post nude or private photos on websites without his or her consent in an attempt to humiliate them. In another incident, a woman was subjected to harassment after she had lost her smart phone, logged in with her email ID. Mithila came to know that a man found the phone as he called her. She requested the man to sign out from her email and also gave the man her phones password hoping that he would sign out from the email. Without paying any heed to her request the man downloaded her personal photos from her email account and threatened her to make them viral on social media if she did not agree to have an affair with him. Women are most frequently victimised compared to men by sharing pictures or violent videos in virtual world harming their reputation. Youngsters are often lured by hoax messages and fake identities in social media and they fall prey to offenders in cyber space as well as the real world. Cyber crimes that are commonly prevalent in social media are cyber defamation, cyber obscenity pornography, cyber stalking, hacking and privacy infringement. According to the Cyber Security and Crime Division of DMP, 70 per cent of cybercrime victims were women and 57 per cent of them were between 18 and 25. Thirteen per cent of the victims were below 18. The unit came up with the findings after analyzing 666 cases and complaints over cyber-related offences filed with different police stations in the capital since 2016. Deputy Commissioner of the division Alimuzzaman said many mobile phone and computer users were becoming victims of cyber crimes mainly due to lack of awareness about the offenses. The number of such victims was increasing day by day, he said, adding that the main challenge in dealing with such cases and arresting the culprits was the delay in reporting to police. He said many victims did not want to go to the law enforcers fearing that their identities would be revealed. Referring to their analysis, the DC said in most of the cases, the accused spread defamatory and fake messages on online platforms and blogs using fake IDs and photos of the victims. The offenders also blackmail women after hacking their social media profiles, he said. Alimuzzaman said one per cent of the 666 cases were related to terrorism, seven per cent to blackmailing or extortion, 14 per cent to pornography, 14 per cent to financial frauds, 20 per cent to hacking, 18 per cent to defamation, 20 per cent to fake IDs and six per cent to other issues. According to the database of the cyber security and crime division, the specialized unit arrested 67 suspects and submitted charge sheets against 24 last year. Of the 666 complaints, the unit completed investigations of 233 cases last year. Although the division has 100 sanctioned posts, presently it has around 70 officials and other employees. To meet the growing challenge, the authorities have already proposed an organogram of 282 members. It is not possible to eliminate completely cyber crimes from the cyber space. No legislation has succeeded in totally eliminate crimes from the globe. The only possible step is to make people aware of their rights and duties and further making the application of laws more stringent to check cyber crimes. Moreover people need to be sensitized about the problem.