India is the nation where the telecom operators are providing voice and internet data virtually, at the lowest pricing in the entire world. This unlimited free data has lured the majority of the people in the cities to buy smartphones. It shows that people are earning good, but these technological advancements have its have own shortcomings, as the lesser literate and lesser informed people are also using these smartphones which are loaded with abundant internet data, making such individuals them most vulnerable to phishing attacks.
With the advent of various e-commerce platforms and applications like Amazon, Flipkart, Shopify, Myntra, E-bay, Quikr, Olx, etc., and other gaming apps, dating apps, etc. people have started using these platforms on regular basis. Besides these, the various payment gateways/wallets have also made a good space for themselves and people use these payment gateways/wallets for both offline and online shopping purposes. This current setup has also given ample space to conmen and phishing perpetrators as they find loopholes in these transactions to lure naïve citizens.
Government agencies, these online shopping platforms, payment apps regularly issue various guidelines and information for the public at large asking them not to open any unknown link or not to share any OTP with anyone, etc, so that they can remain cautious about phishing attacks, these Phishers often develop various means, like they make calls to customers pretending to be some company official, bank official, etc and even make illegitimate websites in order to trick users and entice them to fill their personal data such as bank account details, phone number, address, username, and passwords, etc.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) of Government of India has been issuing the guideline for these intermediaries, website, and portals asking them to develop such mechanism that common and innocent people are not cheated by any ill-intended individual or group. Besides this, The Information Technology Act, 2000 was legislated by the parliament to regulate the virtual world. Punishments and penalties were proposed in the said Act, but the irony is the number of cases that get registered is very minuscule in numbers as compared to the actual incidents of cyber and online frauds.
There is very cold response from the law enforcement agencies and police in particular, to the complaints of cybercrime and phishing incidents. This lacklustre attitude of the police encourages perpetrators and they are now openly making voice calls, sending whatsapp messages, SMSs, and emails to individuals. It is pertinent to note that not all individuals are aware and literate enough and are easy targets for online frauds and are very likely to succumb to the enticements offered by cybercriminals.
Despite, all the warnings and cautions, the frauds and cybercrimes are omnipresent and we hear about them on daily basis. People who get cheated of cyber-crime, often look for remedies on the internet only, here comes the twist, as this gives the undeterred and unfearful cybercriminals another opportunity to further cheat the victim of cybercrime. These cybercriminals have created fake websites showcasing false customer care numbers and emails of popular online e-commerce platforms and other famous intermediaries which appear in search engines. The victim is again entrapped in the net of the cybercriminals.
The Home Ministry of India has launched on the website cybercrime.gov.in wherein all cybercrime can be reported and it assures the redressal of the grievances. There are many similar looking and deceiving websites that appear when someone searches the above-mentioned government website i.e cybercrime.gov.in. These consumer complaint website operators without any mandate or authorization from the government, charge fees for resolving the cybercrime complaints, it is otherwise the job of law enforcement agencies to resolve such cybercrime complaints. This all happens because these website operators are being allowed to be showcased/featured by the search engines.
Such is the overall cybercrime scenario, that a popular OTT Platform has even made a popular web series about a town that has every second person involved in phishing activities. That is not fiction at all and it is clearly evident that these types of towns/areas are mushrooming every here and there. Such cybercriminals have now formed cartels and such cartels cannot exist without the patronage and blessing of enforcement agencies and for that matter police in particular.
It is high time when the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) should be doing much more than passing the guidelines and regulations. It is expected that:
- These intermediaries like Facebook, Twitter, etc, and search engines like Google, Bing, etc should be made more accountable as regards, what appears on their platforms.
- MeitY should co-ordinate with the Ministry of Home, as the latter is mandated to look into the enforcement of such guidelines, acts through Police, Cyber Cells, etc. Law enforcement has categorically failed to curtail this menace. The reason for not being able to do so could be, either there is a shortage of staff or they are not working in their full capacity, because of which the cybercriminals are having the merriest of the time.
- There should be a proper mechanism which should be made mandatory for the intermediaries, search engines, etc to regularly check and block the undesirable content and they should not limit themselves to blocking the content, they should be made to report and complain about such content to the police/cyber cell. Action against the fake consumer care numbers and fake consumer redressal websites should be taken by intermediaries, search engines, etc.
- Police should be made more sensitive about cybercrime, as police seemingly only taking action on the complaints of major embezzlement, the grievance of an influential person, and against few crimes related to breach of women modesty. Other complaints go unattended or police find it convenient to file them as untraced crime. This approach has made cybercriminals fearless.
It can now be understood that it is the duty of the citizen to remain cautious, but then there are some duties of the government authorities and they cannot ask users of e-commerce platforms, social media intermediaries and search engine, etc to “keep away” from use of technologies merely due to their inability to protect them. That is akin to asking women to not step out after dark. Until the enforcement and legal system demonstrate robustness, this sudden exposure to the technology will keep claiming its causalities on a regular basis.
The author is Advocate Pankaj Yadav, who is a practicing advocate at Punjab & Haryana High Courts & Delhi High Court. Advocate Pankaj Yadav has been a police officer with Delhi Police for good long 13 years. He can be reached at +91-97-1179-1179 or pankajyadav.legal@gmail.com
