SANJAY SAHAY
There has been a paradigm shift in how we lived even five years back, leave aside any time earlier. How much of our life; professional and personal, has remained as it was in the beginning of 2020, just before the onset of Covid. Can anyone vouch for the fact that policing has also changed in a near commensurate manner? If we talk of a wide gap existing between the two, then necessarily we are in for tough times, that seems to be the unfolding sordid sage of cyber/digital scams and police not being able to make a marked dent in it.
It’s time police made its tech infra and cyber expertise known to the country, otherwise, we will keep presuming that help is handy when we land into such a situation, whereas in reality, it might be distant and mostly not available at all. Even with the Prime Minister making Digital Arrest, a prime cybercrime concern, nothing seems to have happened on the ground. The stakeholders don’t even talk to each other, there are no collaboration meetings known to the outside world if it is happening. The result is also nowhere to be seen.
One more headline today, is that a 68-year-old senior citizen lost Rs.1.94 crore from his fixed deposit after getting a WhatsApp call. He is Mumbai-based. Did he not know that there is nothing called digital arrest? He was also taken through the now well-known story of Naresh Goyal and how he gets connected to the case, mostly providing a useless connection of his direct involvement. Digital arrest was provided as a solution by the cyber crooks, while the investigation was ongoing. Coerced to give his bank details, and under further coercion over the subsequent seven days, he transferred Rs.1.94 crore in multiple instalments.
While all political parties do cutting-edge digital election campaigning, swinging voters preferences yet their governments cannot conduct impact-making information campaigns on this issue. Why whitelisting of phone numbers related to at least the concerned departments of the government cannot be done. What is the real time support being provided to the victim? None. You can report once he is duped to 1930 and oher locations. What do you get out of it? Telcos and banks have declared themselves to be persona non grata in the sordid saga, where they are the prima donnas. Can police provide guidelines to them in the face of these cyber crimes.
DOES DIGITAL INDIA MEAN RAMPAGING DIGITAL SWINDLING?
(The writer is a former Karnataka cadre IPS officer, Founder & Director, TechConPro, Cyber Security Expert, Professional Public Speaker & Writer. Hailing from Palamu, Jharkhand, he lives in Bangalore.)