Curbing Online Fraud

When the internet revolution began to sweep the world in the late 1990s, the people had no inkling of its scope and impact on the society. It has brought a drastic change to the mode of communication among the people. The virtual world has become source of catalysis to move, shape and transform the real or physical world. Now no sector is detached from internet that is now an essential part of most of human activity and professions. But, as a saying goes: ‘every coin has two sides’, the internet-driven conduct, interaction and business have also pros and cons. No doubt, the internet has enabled the people to accomplish works fast and meticulously but it has also been abused to harm the innocent lot. Anyone with a personal computer can create fake account to cheat people or share false news and information or spread rumours and hate speech through social networking sites to mislead the community. 

There are varieties of cybercrimes that range from bullying and blackmailing to online swindling. Fake news and disinformation have now increased like pandemic. Recently spectacular photos of snow leopards, shot by US photographer Kittiya Pawlowski, turned out to be fake. She has admitted that these photos were composite images but insisted that she travelled to Nepal to take those pictures. Prior to the recent polls to federal and provincial assemblies, the Election Commission Nepal stepped up measures to reduce the negative campaign through the social media. 

Cybercrimes are not merely confined to the spread of false propaganda but also to financial theft and hacking, with the unsuspecting persons are tricked into paying money to swindlers. Of the total of 3,093 cybercrimes that took place in the last six months, most of them were related to hacking and blackmailing. There are various ways of cheating the innocent people. One such a modus operandi is like this. A swindler sends a message from a fake account stating that a reward is provided if s/he wins a game, which is very simple. After s/he becomes success in a game or guesswork, the fake account holder asks the client about the transaction method. With the acceptance of payment option, a photo of receipt of the amount is sent to his/her message box or email. 

The victims are asked to pay for clearing tax or provide an OTP (One Time Password) or registration of email into 'personal information' section. As the victim agrees to these requirements, their account is hacked, which is used to seek money from those on his/her friends' list or blackmail the victim. According to the news report of this daily, victims also fall prey to some online e-commerce portals. The fake e-commerce portals ask the customers to pay money before delivery but they do not dispatch the goods later. Nepal Police has urged the public to be aware of such cybercrimes and not run after the false assurances of unknown persons. In order to avoid to be cheated, the internet users must not share any type of OTP they receive on their mobile phone with any other individual. It is no-brainer that nobody gives money or gift for free to anyone so the public must be conscious of computer or internet fraud. In addition, the security agencies should be equipped with necessary resources to fight the online crimes.