AN APPEAL TO ALL

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

WE AT CCVC HAVE STARTED 2010 WITH A CAUSE.THE POPULAR SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITE ORKUT.COM IS BEING USED BY MANY TO CREATE FAKE PROFILES AND COMMUNITIES WHICH ARE DEFAMING , DEMEANING AND SOME TIMES CARRIES SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENTS. THIS PARTICULAR ISSUE IS NOT RESPONDED WELL BY ORKUT. AS PER THE INDIAN LEGAL STANDARD, SUCH PROFILES AND COMMUNITIES ARE ILLEGAL. BUT UNFORTUNATELY SINCE ORKUT IS GUIDED NOT BY INDIAN LAWS BUT BY UNIVERSAL POLICY GUIDELINES OF ITS OWN (WHICH IS MADE ON THE BASIS OF US FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION), MANY TIMES INNOCENT VICTIMS HAVE BEEN REFUSED ANY POSITIVE HELP. HENCE WE HAVE FILED AN ONLINE PETITION. THE URL IS http://www.petitiononline.com/ccvc123/petition.html. IF U HAPPEN TO READ THIS BLOG, PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION BOTH IN THIS LINK AS WELL AS IN CCVC'S WEBSITE. WE ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR KIND RESPONSE.
THANK U
DEBARATI
JAISHANKAR

FOOLING THE WISEMEN: CYBER FRAUDS ON ACADEMICS

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

Cyber media has become a good platform to do varieties of business including money laundering from innocent victims. We all know about the Nigerian phishing scams: a superb hi-tech way to get easy money by duping innocent people who take such false promises of sharing “blocked account” of huge sum of a dead account holder as true as Veda and get duped themselves. Well, I understand these are ignorant people who have more greed to get easy money than the understanding and observation power of these nasty cyber traps. But what can you say when these brilliant crooks nab the wise men, the professors, researchers or graduate students?  The finest way to fool these wise men is to allure them to publish their research papers, be key note speakers or present their works in front of international academic communities. There is no hassle for peer review of the articles or risk of  being rejected due to “low standard” of the work ; the organization name looks very genuine and the committee chair man always carries a smart “Dr.” in front of his name . Such overnight Ph.d holders sometimes create a perfect geographical map to show the exact venue, put up pictures of their institutions, very serious classrooms and a brochure of their institution. All “the wise men” have to do is, pay through their credit cards or online transfer modes to get their seat confirmed and papers published. However, the story doesn’t have a happy ending for the “wise men”, but definitely for those self claimed chairpersons and secretaries of “made up” academic institutions who, after receiving a good sum suddenly disappear from the world.  The “participators” begin endless wait to receive the acknowledgment note and finally only when the due date arrives they understand the reality.  

There can never be a bigger mockery than this, of the hard work for recognition of one’s academic intelligence. I have seen bright people from the academic world including the Engineering, Medicine or science departments to be duped like this. Suddenly the anger and frustration of these poor souls gets diverted towards the law and justice machinery and the reporting authorities, who in many cases fail to understand how the intelligent, wise people like the professors, senior students and even some professionals can fall in these pitches.  The nature of the crime remains bizarre; the distraught victim makes the whole case more confused by self analysis of the whole situation (which often turns out to be a perfect motivation for deep depression) and the local police station (who can often be ill equipped to understand as well as deal with such cases), fails to balm the pain of the victims due to these confused state of affairs. Well, truly speaking, the victim finally has to be the looser as he not only looses his money but also precious result of the hard brain work. What could be more painful than this?    

But the question which larks in our mind is can we prevent such crimes?   

On a casual conversation with Jayne Hitchcock, President WHOA ( www.haltabuse.org) , I felt the victim could very well prevent such “phishing” victimsation if he / she controlled his /her greed to get “bad money” in an apparent good and easy way. In my opinion, same advice  goes for victims of academic –cyber fraud. I being a researcher myself, can understand a rule or two for academic publications which I prefer to share here.

·        Give your research paper for peer reviewed journals for publication.

·        Check the website of the journal thoroughly.

·        Check out the past issues, volume numbers and the archive.

·        These journals will periodically call for papers submission.

·        Certain institutions or departments who run journals belong to good academic institutions.

·        Generally these journals or even book editors do not ask for payment from the contributors. They call for papers and it is peer reviewed. 

·        If you get to see any call for seminar or conference by any organization, other than well established renowned ones    , you must go for a thorough scrutiny of the organization, website and even the venue.

·        Never give your credit card numbers or even bank account informations.

·        Consult other fellow academicians about the credential of the said organization if you suspect it may not be genuine.

·        However, unfortunately if you get duped, immediately register a case with the local cyber crime police branch. Do not try to police the whole affair yourself.

·        Finally, be wise, observe the current state of cyber crime affairs and prevent such sorts of nasty money making business.  

BEWARE OF VOYEURISM : THE LAWYER SPEAKS

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

 I am doing a survey on my friends on their cyber awareness. The survey has not yet completed but I got to see many of them came across pornographic sites accidentally or intentionally ...............well, our Indian law speaks nothing about viewing pornographic sites AT YOUR OWN WISHES; but many countries including the US feel that it is a RIGHT to check some pornographic images in your own PC if you are an adult and if you are not distributing it or harming anyone. 

But imagine if you get to see your own images in some pornographic sites ? The face of the nude "model" who is taking bath under a shower or the one who is changing her lingerie and that apparently looks like a "change room" in a garment shop; or of a sexy bikini suited "model" whose  private parts are *accidentally* showing ; or even a sleeping beauty whose breasts are showing ...................does it looks like  you? YES IT COULD BE YOU when you are photographed by a spy cam and the pictures are uploaded in pornographic sites. The technology has made it possible to watch any beautiful thing to view in its ugliest , abused form .......You just can't help it.. 

But wait.. now the law is with you. You may not feel like visiting the lawyer or the police  immediately after getting to see these "not so funny" staffs ,but you better know your rights. The amended Indian informations technology Act ( 2008) in section 66E do speak about not only securing your privacy in the internet , but also prevention of voyeurism .The Indian penal Code was a silent guard of the Indian cyber space, as many of its provisions were being stretched to cover these sorts of offences which were very new to Indian cyber space users.But now voyeurism which includes  capturing images of  private parts of individuals and distributing them in the cyber space, has got a legal tag as a  criminal offence.

Voila .... Indian laws are now at par with other domestic cyber laws to protect such attrocious works in the internet . But in reality this particular provision may need more nurturing to serve the victims.Many government  reporting agencies do feel that these new laws are half baked. This is true to a certian extent. A law should not be created just to tag an action as an ofence , but to balm the victim's pain and teach the wrong doer with strict punishment. .

The lawyer says: Cyber bullying Part-3

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

When you get “bullied”, the first reaction of yours would most likely be to attack the bully more aggressively. But are you really doing justice? Remember what Munna bhai did in Lage raho Munna bhai? When Lucky send his men to “teach Munna a lesson, he patiently took one slap and offered the man to slap on his left cheek, thinking he would not hit him anymore…… but the guard did it again… and this time Munna gave him a good punch. And what did Bapu tell him? It is very tough to control yourself from being aggressive at these times.

Same thing happens in the net also. As I have pointed out in the earlier posts, it starts with a simple remark (may be a little pinching) and the bullied and the bully make up a castle of not so funny words. The situation turns so sour that the victim may even start thinking of lodging a police complaint. But does this really make an offence? .Can cyber bullying be regulated by Indian laws? Infact cyber bullying was not recognized as an offence at all till the beginning of millennium. It was considered as an internet behavioral fault, just the way many schools treat in-house bullying of students as a behavioral fault. The US first recognized the severity of the problem and enacted anti cyber bullying law in the name of Megan Meir, a teenager victim of cyber bullying. Now several US parliamentarians are debating for enacting anti cyber bullying law for adults as well , even though the attempt is getting pretty “cold response”. The existing Indian Information technology Act 2000 never really thought of regulating such cyber atrocities. Neither the Indian Penal Code had some specific provision for preventing bullying words. Infact, no one can still adjust with the idea that bullying is no more a childish activity. Adults are also equally bullying and the difference between children bullying each other and adults’ playing the same game lies in the degree of maturity. Children bully for fun, for taking childish revenge and they may even become friends after severe bullying episode, if some adult or peer intervenes and counsels them. Adults know the gravity of the words; bullying vocabulary can be enriched by filthy, obscene words, obnoxious cartoons and even teasing remarks accompanied by violent pornographic images. More so, if and when they are displayed in any website, social networking forums or even walls of the individual’s profiles, the bullying behavior attracts defamation of the victim in front of the wide audience. In such a case, the offence can be booked under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, for defamation, criminal intimidation, annoyance etc along with the exiting provisions on breach of privacy in the Information technology Act. However, the new amendments in the IT Act , 2008 address the problem in a more focused way. Once the new amended Act comes in to existence, cyber bullying (by children as well as adults) can be prevented in a better way than how it is being dealt with now. Hence Bullies be careful…. Mind your language in the internet; it can put you in legal net.

WHAT IS CYBER BULLYING

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

No no, I am not going into typical definitions created by stalwarts. Rather I would like my readers to understand in a very simple manner…….. This is actually filthy verbal fights by a single individual or groups of individuals, targeting one or many, which is expressed in a written manner and posted either by emails, blogs or in the message boards , personal scrap books or even in the community walls. But remember, to get framed as “cyber bullying” , the online “fights” must be showing individual’s names, name callings and they must be with such *impact* that the targeted person feels irritated, embarrassed ,ashamed of himself and even traumatized. The bully some times even uses “smilies” showing teasing faces, grumpy faces or even angry faces to decorate his “speech”. Contrary to the old ideas , cyber bullying is done to the adult as well as young victims as well. Readers must be remembering the famous Bombay Scottish school kids who used internet perfectly to let teachers know that they are no more traditional docile students who would take strict disciplines like their fathers and forefathers. This was the shocking example of how kids use the technology to express their hidden anger. This happened couple of years back and now this has become a very common phenomena to use the emails, social sites and blogs to bully people. Using of harsh, teasing words , mocking at people and even inviting others to comment on one’s own ideas about the victim are all component parts of bully. As a researcher, I found most of the online bullying behavior starts with some sorts of discussions with heated debates. Then the angered person starts bombarding the victim with abusive words. If these people do not know each other “so well” but are just “group mates”, the bullying becomes confined only within the community wall and personal message board. How ever, in exceptional cases, the angered person has also taken the extreme step to humiliate his victim by mailing him personally with bullying words or even opening a separate blog to bully him in front of wider audience. Hugh……..man, you must know, by the time you are three or “posts” old, like minded people do not only hate your target, but even you are being projected as a hate monger. Many watch these online fights with great amusement. Those with mischievous plans, even start planning for bigger crimes like blackmailing the victim with informations that are being constantly published in the internet. I know an incidence where the bully first took part in discussions as to how to carry on social services by individuals (the “target” gave a little amount from her pocket money to a young boy who was an ailing patient of genetic disorders but wanted to carry on his studies), and finally decided to take the case as high as to the level of disproportionate wealth cases. Several people were supporting the HUMAN BEING who wanted to help the child ; some were of the opinion that such helps must be done through proper organizations. Ultimately it turned out to be an ugly verbal (written) exchange of words.

Isn’t it “funny” watching adults fighting like kids? While children are constantly told to not to use internet for fighting purpose, who will tie the bell to the grown ups?

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE, IT IS A VIRTUAL PLATFORM: CYBER BULLYING : PART-I

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

Four years back, when I was newly handling the internet, I came across some strange incidents. I had newly joined a famous social networking site to find more friends. I was offered couple of “groups” to join and increase my virtual interactions on different interesting subjects by the social networking website. I did and as any other human being would do, I started my own discussion thread within a couple of days. After a day or two, I got tied up with many other interesting and obvious issues and I forgot about the virtual world. after a couple of days, I found the computer chair empty, the internet on and the baby sleeping ……..it was right time for peeping into the virtual world , I thought. To my surprise , when I opened my social networking profile , I found a surprise visitor who had asked me to have a look at the disaster I have created….. Disaster? and me ? and in the internet? I felt goose bump in my stomach. What could have been the issue that this visitor calls it a disaster? I clicked on the thread I had “dared” to create and I was nervous now. It was on bilateral relations and cultural exchange of two neighboring countries and after 50 “posts”, it has not remained “exchange between two countries” , but exchange between few individuals who were having virtual war indicating each other’s knowledge , love for the country and off course… taste for girls ( why should girls be included in such topics? After 3 years.. I am still searching for the god reason though), and whoah….what a language they are using….. each word seems to pierce the heart and hit the brain of the reader , automatically making the viewer to react in the words……”yuck…. Stop…….hey come on, enough…….o my god.. so many people are watching”. I am sure, those who ( who were not fighting and simply watching) were reading the words, got blood rushing to their cheeks out of embarrassment I hid my face in my palms, even though I know no one of those warriors can see me practically and I started trembling inside. Finally I gathered enough courage to touch the key boards and type to the fighting knights requesting them to stop. Some instantly reacted and some didn’t . But by that time some warriors understood ( thanks to the humanness) and they requested the thread should be declared “as no posts any more”. The war died down, but it gave a good lesson to me …. Mind your language when you are in the net.

Since then, I have taken part in umpteen numbers of virtual discussions and have also come across many such virtual wars, but fortunately I was never a target. I really sympathize with those who have been targeted by these virtual debators who make language as the ultimate weapon to mutilate individuals. .

Phishing: The lawyer says

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

Once you receive such alluring mails which tells you will get loads of money without any legal hassles etc……………… do not be carried away. THIS IS ILLEGAL AND FRAUDULENT ACTIVITY .Yes yes.. I know when the person turns up physically and shows his passport and other legal documents then you are again made to believe “what’s wrong?”.. But it is not right either. The man in front of you, who claims to be the sender of the mail or the representative of the sender, could actually be a racketeer of economic offences waiting to trap innocent, “greedy” individuals like you. But remember, his passport can be a fake passport and even the *registered papers * that he waves in front of you can also be dubious. Once you start giving your personal financial informations, he notes every minute detail and then either he would tell you to give him some money to clear the registration charges or the customs charges of the airport. But beware……. The Indian Penal Code strictly forbids anyone to play fraud with financial informations of individuals. Similarly the amended version of the Information technology act 2008 also touches upon the points of financial frauds in various sections while dealing with identity theft, cheating by impersonation etc. The fraudulent person is subjected to financial penalties as well as imprisonment.

Hence , do remember , those who are trying to play fraudulent games with innocent individual’s beliefs, can not escape from the clutches of law once caught; and those who feel this is the best way to gain money in a “super fast” way… hold on your monetary appetite. This could be a super fast way to loose all your hard earned savings as well.

PHISHING-PART II

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

A typical Phishing Mail would look like as below:
“I sincerely ask for forgiveness for I know this may seem like a complete intrusion to your privacy but right about now this is my option of communication. This mail might come to you as a surprise and the temptation to ignore it as unserious could come into your mind; but please consider it a divine wish and accept it with a deep sense of humility.

I am aware that this is certainly an unconventional approach to starting a relationship.
I am the personal account officer to the great late diseased who has an account in one of our banks here in Burkina Faso . The account was opened in 2001 and he died in 2004 without a written or oral WILL and since 2004 nobody has operated on this account again hence the money is floating and if I do not remit this money out urgently it will be forfeited for nothing and Government of Burkina Faso will confiscate the funds for their personal use which I personally don't want such incident to happen being that this is a great opportunity for me.

My contact is for you to please assist me to transfer the fund ($10.6000.00 USD) Ten Million Six Hundred Thousand United State Dollars from a Cooperate Bank here in Burkina Faso to an overseas account. First, I must solicit your strictest confidence in this transaction. This is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential. I am sure and have confidence of your ability and reliability to prosecute a transaction of this great magnitude. I solicit your assistance to enable us transfer the said amount into your safe account for onward investment.

You can either provide us with an existing account or to set up a new Bank account immediately to receive this money, even an empty a/c can serve to receive this money, as long as you will remain honest to me till the end of this important business trusting in you and believing that you will never let me down either now or in future because this business is my life. The owner of this account is a foreigner and no other person knows about this account or anything concerning it, the account has no other beneficiary and until his death he was the manager of the company. My investigation through the National immigration department & Ministries here proved to me as well that he was single as at the time of his entry into the Republic of Burkina Faso . As a matter of fact, I have decided to transfer this fund abroad for investment and also to use my own share of the fund to take my wife to abroad for liver damage treatment. Your assistance as a foreigner is necessary because the management of the bank will welcome any foreigner who has correct information to this account which I will give to you immediately, if you are interested to do this business with me. There is no risk in this business. With my position here in the bank the money can be transferred to any account you can provide with assurance that this money will be intact pending our physical arrival in your country for sharing. Upon successful transfer without any disappointment from your side, I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money cannot be approved to a local person here, but can only be approved to any foreigner who has the correct information of the account, which I will provide for you. So you should provide me with your correct account details where you will like the fund to be transferred to, or you can set up a new account for the transfer even an empty account is ok. At the conclusion of the transfer you will take 40%, 10% will be for any expenses both parties incurred in the process of this business and the remaining 50% will be for me. As soon as I hear from you and upon your strong assurance that you will not let me down once the fund goes into your account I will then send you the Text of application form which you will fill with your banking information and send to my bank here for immediate transfer of the fund to your account. If you are interested, please forward the following information as below:

{1} Your Name/company's name and full address,
{2} Bank Name:............
{3} Bank Address...
{4} Account No:.........
{5} Swift Code...{if any}
{6} Account Holder's Name: ..........
{7} your telephone Num. both Home, Office & Cell/Mobile and fax
Numbers...
{8} Your Occupation
{9} Your Valid ID
Waiting for your urgent reply”

Well, this was a mail (infact one of hundreds of mails I receive every day) I got just day before yesterday. Isn’t the informations provided inside the mail ,enough to tempt any ordinary individual? When I opened my first gmail account some three years back, I felt I got a fortune when I received a mail stating I have won a lottery. No no, I didn’t put my name in any such easy money making game. The sender told me it was a randomly searched name and I was the lucky one. I was about to send my informations when suddenly my instincts told me some thing is wrong. I consulted with my banker sister, my criminologist husband and couple of my police friends. Almost all of our net experiences were similar and I decided to resist my temptation. The incidence motivated my sister to inquire and tell me it was a kind of fraud that helps the mischief monger to access the victim’s financial accounts. My husband who was already researching on these incidences immediately went for a deeper research with me as a “case study” and told me this was nothing but another type of cyber crime which India is not very familiar with.

PHISHING: PART-I

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

How many of you readers love spending your leisure time by catching fish in serene atmosphere ? I am sure , most of you cherish the dream of such beautiful holidaying in your ancestral homes /villages with lots of water around. Well, I do... And what do we do then? Just sit quietly on the bank of the river/ pond with the fishing rod, thinking all sorts of thoughts and suddenly the pull in the string…….. yeeeeeee you got the game of the day.

But then imagine when you are the FISH who just gulped the trap … yup………... this happens often in the cyber space. I dedicate this blog to those who have become victims of such crimes which is called “PHISHING”. What is “Phishing? When for the first time my English Professor mother came across this spelling, she was very surprised. She asked me straight away…….... is this the way you write English? Well, I am not born as an “English speaking individual”, but I have learnt it along with couple of other languages and I know “Phishing” is a word which will make every educated individual of my mother’s age, stare blankly at me and ask the same question. Yes, Phishing is a newly coined word which was born in the 1996 ( ref: Stroik& Huang(2008), Nature & Distribution of Phishing, published in Crimes of the Internet ( edited by Schmalleger & Pittaro, Prentice Hall publication) for the cyber generation . The word actually means “…criminals’ creation and use of emails and websites –designed to look like emails and websites of well known legitimate business , financial institutions…in order to deceive the internet users in order to disclose their bank and financial account information or their personal data such as usernames and passwords…”( the information was provided by US department of justice, (USDOJ 2004). But then, I am wrong in saying *only* “older generation”. Many of our generation also do not know how they are being “fish out of pond”. Well, I do not blame men and women who are oblivion of this fact. This is a hard truth that some brilliant tricksters have taken to internet to gain money in this easiest possible way by duping innocent people. The more shocking news is, many believe these sorts of mails as genuine and give in.

The lawyer says: what are the Indian laws to prevent cyber stalking?

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

The American laws, the English laws and even the Australian laws identify cyber stalker as one who has a *motive to harm* the followed person.

Indian law specifically does not mention anything about stalking or cyber stalker. If you want a very technical legal answer , “cyber stalker” is actually a free bird in India ( as there is no mention of “cyber stalking” in any laws in India). But wait a second. Cyber stalker, you are an offender in India too. How? Cyber stalker peers into the privacy of the individual with an intention to *disturb* the privacy, which is very well protected by information technology law of India. Then how can we teach these “criminals” a lesson or two? I have seen generally after some strong steps taken by the victim ( if the victim is strong enough to face the situation) , the stalking habit of the perpetrator die down. But when it goes beyond control, you have no other way but to contact the police. Even though the present Cyber law is not equipped enough to punish the stalkers, the Indian Penal code has *strong words* to protect harassment which goes very near to the characters of stalking. Hence remember, once a stalker is convicted by the police, he /she can go through rigorous punishments under both IT Law as well as the Indian penal Code. But then how long will it take for the whole process of “cat chasing and capturing the rat”? My friend “Cyber Cop” assured me that if the victim cooperates , the police can nab the “criminal” and start the judicial procedure to punish him for his misdeeds within a month ( when the stalker resides within India) to six months( when the stalker resides outside India) . However, the grim picture is, still now victims don’t feel comfortable to report.

But readers, don’t think that the cyber stalker can stop within the blue screen of the computer. I know several cases where the stalking actually started inside the net and the NET spread outside the internet also. In my earlier posts I have given many examples of such online –offline stalking. I am sure, many of you my readers, can relate the story to your own cases, even the cases of some of your friends too. Do you know why such incidences are becoming “common stories”? It is because of the Victims of stalking. Be it a man or woman , the victim feels scared first and then feels “why should I report ?” better hide than be object of discussions .Come on, if you don’t report then who else will?

I am watching I am watching……. And here I come to hurt you: Cyber stalking: Part: 3

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

Cyber stalking is such a mischievous idea to “tease” and harass victims. There are some mischief mongers who love to play with the human sentiments and the new joinees in the gang are some real hard nut cyber stalkers. In India the concept of cyber stalking is relatively new (blame on our IT Law which doesn’t say anything about cyber stalkers). But the word created a panic among ordinary net users, especially women. If you consider “hackers” as the “most brilliant” of the cyber criminals, stalkers are most wicked of them. Not necessarily these stalkers are hi-tech people; most of them have a vengeance against their “prey” and some just play with the net-users they randomly choose. Now, what could be the reason of vengeance? Anything…. Jealousy, romantic breakup, revengefulness, and even domestic violence. Jealousy, the green eyed monster, has got suitable arm through internet to hit the “target”. I am sure many of you readers have experienced such cyber effect of jealousy… well, I have. I did get to see how one is followed in the cyber space and the stalker reached not only the victim’s immediate family, but even extended family as well. He first introduced himself as someone who wants to know about the victim for business purpose and then abused the victim to whomever he reached .Finally he was able to create a “bad name” for the victim. Similarly, ending up romantic liaison could be heart breaking. But then, seeing the same man/woman who once promised his/ her life for the partner, turning into a virtual beast is more painful. But then people are only in love and “everything is fair in love and war” .. isn’t it? Imagine what happens when the present or ex husband/wife starts stalking the other spouse just to irritate him/her ……. Somewhere I read about a Chinese couple who *mistakenly* chatted with each other (both in different screen names) and started *following* each other virtually. In no time the followers became stalkers because they realized that they were real life husband and wife who loved to fool each other by involving with may virtual girlfriends and boyfriends respectively…. Phew…..I laughed, rolled on the floor in laughing. But this was not the similar “funny” experience when I heard one of my own friend is being stalked by her ex husband. They are divorced, legally separated, mentally fell apart from each other, but still then the “husband” decided not to leave the wife without teaching a lesson. Through his email id he reached all the common friends as well as her own friends and described her in all the possible disgracing languages one may know. He even entered her social networking circle, found out the groups where she was a member and started making friends with other members to defame her. My friend got alarmed when she received an SOS from her well wishers. But by then the harm was done for no fault of the victim. But she is not the only one… I heard from another friend of mine that a man (whom the victim didn’t know in real life but knew as a friend of her friend in a popular social networking website where she is a member) called her best friend to say he is waiting outside her (the victim’s) office after he “hit” her boyfriend in the middle of the road. He claimed to be a “better person” than the man she was having affair with. The girl was terrified, couldn’t concentrate on her job and didn’t have her lunch until the late evening when she finally got her boyfriend’s line to know whether he was all right and confirmed that she has not told any of her virtual friends about her romantic affair with her boyfriend. Sounds petrifying? Yes … this is the effect of cyber stalking.

Are you pulling your friend in the vicious net?Cyber stalking, Part:2

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/
contd from my earlier post....

The last point that I mentioned in the previous post was about CCing the mails. Believe it or not, this attracts cyber stalking as well. I was completely oblivion of this fact (excuse my innocence) until and unless one senior friend of mine pointed out that sending bulk mails is actually a way of pulling your friend in the vicious net . You may have several people in your “list” to inform the good news or even a bad news. You don’t have time to mail every id individually. But then you must remember that the recipient may misuse the email ids he receives in the bulk mail. Well it need not be him, but it could be someone else who may have hacked his email id. Such bulk mail gives a large number of “games” for the hacker and in no time you may find your own email id is hacked as well.

But could CCing be so dangerous? Probably yes. I have one friend who had two ids in her list and whom he used to mail regularly. Well, he knew that these two people had a romantic inclination towards each other in real life but he didn’t know that the relationship has turned sour. The female recipient had put the mail in the spam list and never looked into the content. The male recipient found out his long lost ex sweet heart and immediately took up the thread to continue virtual war. He mailed almost all the recipients of the said mail to know her where about. Some knew the relationship some didn’t know. Virtually he traveled half the globe, reached hundreds of friends and made the girl understand he still remembers her “rude” rejection. Now who is to be blamed for rolling the ball? My poor friend had to close his “doors” in the internet for few months until the war died down again with the help of another common friend. But this is not an uncommon story. This happens to many email users who unknowingly invite trouble for their friends. I suppose the only way to avoid such embarrassment is to stop CCing any personal mail to your “bulk of friends”. Instead, BCCing is better where you may not only save time but you can also spare your friends from falling prey to stalker.

Cyber Stalking in the Indian cyber space: Part 1

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

This is something which caught my attention way back in 2005-6, when I started doing independent researches on cyber crime targeting individuals. Let me begin as how cyber stalking starts. A very easy way to attract stalker is to *publicize* yourself in the internet. This can happen through numerous ways, such as:
1. through your blogs,
2. your social networking profiles
3. your websites
4. your albums in the internet
5. your views for other’s blogs
6. and last but not the least, when you are being CCed by your friend in a bulk message.
I have watched that when you start a blog, you are given option to invite “outsiders” to visit your blog and comment on your blog. You can strictly moderate the comments. But many don’t do so and thereby giving an open invitation to many troubles, one of which is obviously stalking. Social networking also encourages stalking. It is rather an open gateway for stalkers to come in and start stalking especially when you have not used “lock buttons”. The same goes to your website, your albums and your views for other’s blogs. Infact it is true that people express their views, albums, about themselves etc in the internet to get noticed by the millions of net users worldwide. But then do remember that you are being followed by thousand pairs of eyes. Now, we must remember that all stalkers are followers, but all followers are not stalker. Who are the “followers”? Several cyber psychological, cyber criminological, cyber legal articles in peer reviewed journals as well as popular magazines talk about the nature of cyber stalker. One can understand that when a “follower” harmlessly follows any cyber “netizen”, say for example, his blogs, his website his social networking profiles and finally tries to reach him / her through his contact informations, preferably emails etc , he may come with a genuine interest to know the person he is following. He is not a typical “stalker” because he does not intend to harm the followed person. Well, I do follow numerous people in the net. For instance, I am a die hard fan of actor Ashis Vidyarthi, the noted “criminal” of many block buster Indian movies. I started following him in the internet. I read numerous articles about him and finally one day I got him in the Facebook. I first checked whether this was the real profile of the actor or not by checking with my cousins who are in his friends’ list and then approached him to be my friend in the Facebook. Did I stalk him? No, I just followed him. Next in my list was Jayne Hitchcock, President, WHOA . This wonderful lady, who was my main inspiration for opening up the CCVC, had been a “mysterious” figure for me until the day I found her out in the internet. I became a proud member of WHOA and I started following her write ups to know her personally. I never missed any links she gave in the internet and finally I could “see” her in the Facebook too. I came to know about her family, saw her wonderful mother, her lovely dogs, and even her favorite dishes too. I still “follow” her (readers please excuse me for my habit of “following” only *celebs*. But I can’t help it). Well, I do *follow* but don’t *stalk* and I don’t do any crime. But then if anyone follows any individual with a vengeance, it certainly doesn’t remain a pleasant experience for the “followed” individual and then the act turns into “stalking”.

More to come in the second part

ARE YOU A VICTIM?

Let me start this blog for the CCVC with a complicated question…………...

Are you a victim?

In India majority of the internet users know that they are “victims” when they find their email / profile has been “hacked”, or credit card users find their bank account is leaking without their knowledge. Some however feel that they are victimised when they see that a known / unknown id is repeatedly sending mails to his/ her email id and that of her close acquaintances also. Thanks to the numerous online articles about the nature of the *popular* cyber crimes ………………..these victims suddenly understand that it is nothing but “stalking”. In fact I have felt that hacking is the most dangerous type of cyber offence that can happen to ordinary individual. Once a hacker cracks in, he gets numerous ways to “create” more offences. The hacked email id can be harbor of identity fraud, pornographic sites and even an elementary school for “baby hackers” as well. With the passing of each day a new type of internet offence is being discovered.

But online victimization does not end here.

I feel online victimization can best be compared with melted wax, which when poured in different “shapes” , becomes “wax dolls” of various VIP personalities which attract visitors from all over the world; or even “wax candles” which burn out with time giving new stock of wax to prepare another candle …….. may be of different shape. Say for example, stalking.

You enter a social networking website, make friends and then take part in various discussions. Suddenly you find you are having a long list of follows who start giving their opinions, some even going against you and expressing their own points of views. Some visit your profile to see who you are, some extend their friendships and some just peep in and go off. Then suddenly you get to see some of these new found friends coming over to your “virtual home “to have a tete –e tat with you. And suddenly all hell break loose when you and he / she differ with each other. Finally it turns out to be a verbal war and it even goes public. You feel restless and keep on looking at your mail box whether he / she has replied you again, whether he / she has posted anything against you in the forum board.

Do you think you are an ordinary net surfer now? No, you have become a VICTIM of flaming words and bully. Perhaps you did the same thing to your “friend” too and thus you instantly become an offender too. Some of your “visitors” now start to follow your virtual whereabouts regularly and suddenly you receive an urgent call from your real life friend/ relative that some one has sent “very disturbing stuff” from “your contact”. Slowly this net reaches your office where half of the people come to know what is your "second self ". Don’t be surprised if you get to hear that you play “not mentionable games” in the virtual world. You wonder who did it. And how did he/ she get to know your friends/ relatives? ahoy…. You have become a Victim of stalking now.

Hence the “how you become a victim” probably only your virtual destiny knows (well jokes apart). But before being termed as a “victim” think twice what could have been led you to become one.

center for cyber crime victims

http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf/

Welcome to the blog of CCVC India

If you are a

1. a victim in the social networking websites
2. a victim of cyber harassment in the chat rooms
3. getting harassing emails in your email
4. fearing of being blackmailed through emails,
5. victim of stalking ( online and offline)
6. relative or friend of such victims
7. a corporate organization willing to know about cyber etiquettes and cyber safety measures for your people
8. an educational institution willing to interact with us
9. an NGO willing to interact with us …………………..

We welcome you to contact us at the center's email id @ ccvcindia@gmail.com.

Have a safe virtual life

Debarati Halder

Director, CCVC