Uzzal Sikder, a psychology student at the capital’s Jagannath University, recently received an email saying he had won a huge sum of money from Western Union Money Transfer Lottery.
The email, which included all sorts of information that are generally provided in regular money transactions, further added that he will be able to check his status through the website but only be able to withdraw the money after paying a $100 fee.
Overwhelmed with such delightful news, Uzzal was set to pay the fee to claim his prize money. However, he decided to check the claim and shared the email with one of his friends, who happened to be an IT expert. Following a thorough investigation, his friend confirmed that mail was a fraud.
Although Uzzal was lucky to have a friend to check the authenticity of such an information, many others like Uzzal have not been so fortunate. Many people daily fall prey to various kinds of cybercrime, right under the nose of the ministry concerned.
Incidents relating to cybercrime have been on the rise across the country, where such acts of fraudulences have broken up families and destroyed many young lives.
Underworld godfathers, including local criminals, are now using new means of technology to commit crimes. Recently, the Rapid Action Battalion arrested six cybercriminal from the capital’s Mirpur area, who used hacking techniques to collect information on missing persons complains filed with local police stations and later contact the victims’ families and demand money in the guise of law enforcers.
Besides, two more cybercriminals were also arrested by the elite force from Mohammadpur area only a week ago. The law enforcers also recovered a huge cache of cellphones, SIM cards, laptops, monitors, cell phone dialing software and internet modems from their procession.
Contacted, ATM Habibur Rahman, director of legal and media wing of Rab, said the members of the elite force have always been alert of such criminal offences and has already solved several important cases related to cybercrime.
Schools, colleges and university students, homemakers, teenagers, and senior citizens in the society are now becoming victims of cybercrime.
Requesting anonymity, a female university student has told the Dhaka Tribune that she recently met a boy via Facebook and developed a relation with him.
After she ended up spending some private moments with the boy at his friend’s residence, the boy has forced her to pay a huge sum, threating to release a video of their intimate moments, which was captured with a hidden camera, on the internet.
“I told everything to my family members and finally agreed to give him the money,” she said.
Like her, many girls are now becoming victims to such cybercrimes, which are mostly left unreported.
Facebook, a social networking site, has become a major ground for criminals to carry out their activities. These days, many hackers open up fake accounts on Facebook and spread offensive pictures and fraudulent information to other users. They also steal personal information, pictures and contact information of other users.
Cybercriminals also hack into secured networks, such as online banking systems, and use malicious software to extract classified information. They sometimes gain illegal access to a secured network and release malicious software, commonly known as viruses, which once installed on a computer will send a detailed log of everything typed using the keyboard, including details and passwords, back to the hacker.
Although the cybercrimes have increased, no special initiatives were taken by the law enforcement agencies. A committee was earlier form at Criminal Investigation Department to investigate on cybercrime but no effective result came out.
Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Benazir Ahmed acknowledged the rise in cybercrimes across the country and said the police force is now being upgraded technologically to enable them to fight cybercrimes and arrest the culprits.
