Cybercrime's new frontier: Kids are at high risk

Kathmandu, Sept. 15:

Case 1: Cyber harassment by Suyog

Four years ago, 17-year-old Suyog (name changed) saw a video of Sanita (name changed), a girl of his age, on the video app 'Likee.'

He then continued clicking a like button in her videos and commented 'Looking nice' on a few. Soon, their conversations in the comments became longer. Gradually, they started chatting directly through messages. Even though they hadn't met in person, within two or three weeks, they started falling in a romantic relationship. Once they became boyfriend and girlfriend online, their conversations turned explicit, and they began exchanging private photos.

Suyog was studying at a school in the capital, and their relationship, which had started digitally, didn't last long. 

Even after their breakup, they hadn’t removed each other from social media. Suyog kept messaging her regularly, and Sanita grew tired of it.

In the meantime, she had started getting closer to another boy. Finally, Sanita decided to block him on all social media platforms. When she blocked him everywhere, Suyog couldn't handle it.

He created a fake account on Facebook and sent her a threatening message, saying, “If you ignore me or block me, I will misbehave in front of your parents within a month.” 

Not only that, he also threatened that if she didn’t check the messages immediately, he would place an order for her parents on the 'dark web', the webcasting content that exists on darknets; overlay network that uses the internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorisation to access without revealing their identity. 

Suyog threatened to post her private photos and videos there and even share a video of him misbehaving in front of her parents.

After receiving such threatening messages, Sanita told her parents. They filed a complaint at the Cyber Bureau in Bhotahiti. Through a technical investigation, it was confirmed that the fake ID was indeed operated by her ex-boyfriend. The police then arrested him.

In his statement, he confessed that after being blocked, he acted out of impulse and sent the threatening messages. 

“A lot of thoughts were running through my mind, and I made that decision,” he said in his statement.

Based on the evidence provided by the victim, including screenshots of the messages, technical analysis reports, the complaint, and other related documents, the police concluded that he had committed a cybercrime and filed a case against him.

On July 23 2024, a case was registered against him at the District Court in Kathmandu under the Electronic Transactions Act-2006, for causing mental stress and harassment to a minor through social media. 

If the charges are proven, he could face up to five years in prison, or a fine of up to Rs. 100,000, or both.

Case 2: Vianet data breach 

In 2020, Nepal's largest data breach occurred when over 175,000 records from Vianet Communications Pvt. Ltd., were exposed by a hacker named "Narapichas" on social media. 

The hacker, a 16-year-old boy, claimed he did it to highlight the company's weak data security. 

He acknowledged his wrongdoing, he apologised to users and expressed frustration at developers' neglect of vulnerabilities. He confessed immediately when the police confronted him and was charged under Nepal's Electronic Transactions Act for unauthorized data access.

According to Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Nabindra Aryal, head of the Cyber Bureau, after the Company filed a complaint and an investigation was launched, it was discovered that a 16-year-old boy was involved in it.

"He was unaware that what he was doing was a crime, and that the police could arrest him," DIG Aryal shared the incident which took place four years ago with The Rising Nepal. 

This data leak caused a major stir on social media and in the press, and it also presented a challenge for the police to identify the hacker. During this time, the hacker, ‘Narapichas’, wrote in a blog that he had gone through depression.

"I won’t say what I did was right. But my intentions weren’t bad; I didn’t want to hurt anyone," he wrote. "I do apologise to all the users whose data was leaked, and I want to say that your private information can be easily accessed at any time."

DIG Aryal said the incident occurred due to irresponsible site developers. 

In other countries, hackers are rewarded for identifying weaknesses in websites. However, in Nepal, when weaknesses are pointed out, developers respond with insults and neglect, the hacker told the police.

"That’s why I wanted to send a message to the developers," the hacker furnished his statement in the police interrogation.

When the police arrived at his home, he immediately confessed to the crime. The police charged him under Chapter 9 of the Electronic Transactions Act-2063, for unauthorised access to other websites' data.

Case 3: Teenagers post obscene videos  

Again, in the year 2020, after the video of Nikisha Shrestha, a transsexual, was posted, the social media was thrilled. The police headquarters directed the Cyber ​​Bureau to investigate. During the investigation, three teenagers aged 19, 16 and 17 from Bhaktapur were found involved in abusing Shrestha and uploading videos on YouTube and Facebook.

They made a video by climbing the school building and teasing Nikisha. During the statement after their arrest, they said that they did not know that the police would arrest them for doing so.

In the same year, when the VAW movement was going on in the capital, a group suddenly appeared on the Facebook, named 'Rapist Organisation'. This group was formed on Facebook when there was a protest by singing a song saying 'Balatakari hos ta' against violence against women.

After such a group was formed on the social media over a serious issue like rape, the Cyber ​​Bureau increased its surveillance. Based on technical analysis, it was found that an 18-year-old teenager was involved in forming such a group. Other members who joined the group were 16, 17 and 19 years old, according to the Bureau's investigation.

Also in Kailali, on June 9, 2024, a minor was arrested on charge of creating an obscene video by attaching the photo of a girl who had given him a broken mobile phone to repair. 

He was also arrested by the district police office along with the owner of the mobile repair shop. According to the police, they made an obscene video and blackmailed the girl. 

Underage virtual love 

According to DIG Aryal, there is an increase in the misuse of internet and social networks by teenagers. According to him, in some cases, even without knowing that they are committing a crime, they seem to be involved in wrongful activities.

According to the data of the Bureau, the number of minors in both victims and perpetrators of cybercrime is increasing. In the fiscal year 2022/23, 176 minors' family members filed an application saying that their children were victims of cybercrime, while in the fiscal year 2023/24, 635 applications were received at the Bureau. So far in the current fiscal of 2024/25, 68 minors' family members visited to file applications under cybercrime.

DIG Aryal informed, only in the fiscal year 2024/25, five minors were arrested for being involved in cybercrime.

Teenagers are curious by nature. They are always trying to learn new things. However, when no one pays attention to what they are doing on the internet, they are unknowingly engaged in crime, police said. 

In 2022, Voice of Children and EP-Luxembourg had also conducted a study of children in the age group 5 to 12 years in the Kathmandu Valley about the status in domestic violence and sexual harassment. 

The study showed that 75 per cent of the participants said they did not know how to protect themselves from online abuse.

According to Krishna Thapa, who was involved in the study, children below 16 seem to be involved in activities such as exchanging sexual messages through text messages, sending nude photos and videos, threatening and defrauding by showing them.

DIG Aryal noted that most of these cases are related to virtual love or attraction seen among the children only because of the social media and mobile phones the guardians provide them. 

"There is a tendency to fall in love through social sites at a young age, to have obscene conversations and exchange pictures," he said 

To some extent, minors are also involved in character assassination by misusing artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Aryal said that the new generation is as advanced in technology as it is in its misuse.

Risk of virtual chatting 

Previously, college-age teenagers were abusing social media the most, but now it has come down to the school level. Two years ago in a famous school in Lalitpur, a student studying in grade 9 posted a pornographic video of his friend. He posted that video in the messenger group of school students.

"Since the lockdown, mobile phones and social media have become mandatory for studies, but it has also brought distortions," said an officer involved in the investigation.

According to Rajesh Sharma, President of the Children as Zone of Peace (CZOP)-National Campaign, "Nowadays, parents don't know what their children are doing on their mobile phones." 

When the family members and the children both start spending hours on their gadgets, it is sure that children may go out of family's control one day. "Today, we can't leave them carefree because they are smarter than us," said Sharma. 

Family awareness and lesson can also help them guide and adopt safe ways while using social media, and when they don’t, they must be alerted about legal consequences of misusing social apps, suggested Sharma. 

Child rights activist Sanjeev Neupane said that parents need to pay attention to what their children are doing on their mobile phones, even within the family.

He said that parents must check their children's contact (who they are in contact with), content (what they watch and on what kind of sites), and conduct (what kind of conversations they have, with whom they share their photos, passwords, etc.) and need to be aware of these things.