Threatening mail are good for being caught
Next time you receive a threatening or obscene email there are good chances of the perpetrator being caught. According to statistics of the Mumbai police cyber wing, of the 12 cases of obscene emails reported to the police till November 6 this year, 11 people have been arrested. In Addition to this, five arrests have been made in the five cases of threatening emails that have been sent to complainants.
“On most occasions, the accused are amateurs, who feel they will not be traced if they send threatening emails or post obscene content using a different email id or from another computer. However, it does not take time to track them down,” said an officer from the cyber crime police station.
As compared to this, the cyber wing’s record of catching professional hackers is not on par. Of the 19 cases of credit card fraud and cheating registered with the police, 13 people have been arrested so far. While in cases of obscene or threatening emails, one accused is generally arrested, in cases of credit card fraud or cheating, three to four arrests are generally made in one case.
When asked why the Mumbai cyber police did not have a good record in catching professional hackers, cyber security expert Vijay Mukhi said, “Law enforcement agencies across the world find it difficult to track them down because they use servers, which belong to several countries. As such there is nothing lacking on the part of the Mumbai police.”
Vicky Shah, another cyber expert agreed with Mukhi adding, “In cases such as credit card frauds, the shops or banks have to ensure they have the transaction details in cases of fraud to help the police in their investigations. In some cases, the shops do not take adequate precautions and hence no amount of expertise can help you.”
Mukhi, however, did add that Indian policemen are not seen at international cyber conferences where they could learn a lot. “The government should allot a budget to ensure that officers keep upgrading their knowledge because cyber criminals keep changing their modus operandi with time.”
“We have caught those who are not as proficient in using the internet but we have also achieved success against professional cyber criminals,” said senior inspector N More of cyber police station.
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