Cybercrime might be a new thing to Kashmir, but the world has been grappling with this for quite a long time. Over the years, developed societies like that of Europeans and Westerners have succeeded to curb the cybercrime menace to a large extent by bringing tougher laws into practice. Also, these countries have developed enough checks and balances to tackle cyber risks. Experts say that we do not have sufficient laws in place here. We are still governed by the Information Technology Act, 2000; and some sections such as 420 and 468 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), to take care of cybercrimes and suggest some harsher laws to handle the growing cybercrimes in our society. Jammu and Kashmir administration has finally woken up to this challenge and is all set to strengthen the cyber crime cell and set up a helpline to record and address citizens’ grievances related to cyber frauds and pornography.Under the recently launched Cyber Security Policy, the administration is also taking various steps such as modifying the curriculum for high schools to include aspects of cyber security relevant to children. The administration would also collaborate to establish a digital forensics lab to analyze and investigate cyber crimes to assist in the recovery and preservation of digital evidence.Cyber fraud —an offshoot of internet technology— is becoming a new phenomenon in the world of crime, everywhere. The Valley, indeed, is not an exception. Kashmir’s Cyber Police Wing, according to the official sources, receives complaints about online frauds and scams on daily basis.In the given scenario, experts emphasize spreading awareness about the safe use of the internet and gadgets. They say that holding a Smartphone in hand could prove dangerous unless a user has smartness of mind as well.
The administrations decision to strengthen the cyber crime cell is a right step in right direction. Already the cyber wing of J&K Police is focused largely on mass awarenessto ensure that the people – the internet users – know their vulnerabilities in the virtual world. In the modern digital world, cyber crimes are a reality and thus need to be taken head on. Since the usage of gadgets and the internet has increased everywhere and by everyone, the possibility of the misuse of technology by criminals has also risen. For example, after the outbreak of the pandemic early last year, most of the people turned to online shopping; and, eventually, the police started getting complaints of scammer buying. The police has also been receiving complaints about cyber frauds like KYC (Know your customer) scams. In these scams, the targets get calls from various phone numbers asking them to furnish their bank account details for the updation and verification. Unfortunately, some of the targets, due to their ignorance, get befooled and they reveal their bank account details and passwords to the callers. And then they end up getting robbed. The police has been getting many complaints about the things like identity theft, and pornography victimization. In the cases of identity theft, the crooks use the name and picture of the target to create a fake social media account and then use it for personal gains. Also, hacking complaints are most frequent in our society.Now that the UT administration has decided to strengthen the cyber crime cell and set up a helpline to record and address citizens’ grievances related to cyber frauds and pornography, need is that a massive campaign through different media platforms is launched to increase awareness among the technology users about these crimes.
