New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Not succumbing to sextortion threats is the most potent way to thwart such cybercrimes, an ITBP DIG has told his troops after a jawan recently ended his life due to such a reported bullying over the virtual space.
IPS officer K Sanjay Kumar, posted with the Lucknow-based headquarters of the eastern frontier of the force that guards the LAC with China, recently wrote a two-page letter to the personnel of his force saying no problem is big enough for them to take extreme steps like suicide or fiddling with one’s “valuable” life.
PTI has accessed the letter in which the deputy inspector general (DIG) rank officer has shared his personal mobile number and asked the troops to get in touch in case they are at the receiving end of such cybercrimes.
Asking the personnel to refrain from making friends over social media, the 2005-batch Kerala cadre Indian Police Service officer told them to not “succumb” to threats of extortion made by cybercriminals seeking money in lieu of not publishing adult chats or videos that are created by involving them.
The cybercriminals may “threaten, pressurise and abuse” you but you need to exhibit patience and maturity, the officer said.
Do not pay any money to them (cyber extortionists). The blackmailers do not have an intention to malign your image. They only want to extort money from you, he said.
In 99.99 per cent cases, they (cybercriminals) do not share the video or chat. They try to put pressure on you but when they realise you are not going to pay them, they will curse you and stop messaging, the officer told his troops.
Cyber sextortion refers to a blackmail in the Internet world where criminals threaten to publicise sexual pictures, chats or videos of a person if a certain amount of money is not paid to them.
The officer said these inputs were a result of his experience in this domain as he assured his troops that not succumbing to the extortion demands of the cybercriminals was the only way to effectively tackle such crimes.
The officer is an expert cyber analyst and has written books and journals on these crimes and issues arising out of them.
The DIG told his troops that there was nothing to be “ashamed of” once such instances came to light as he stressed that that the police and cybercrime fighting agencies were “very sensitive and ensure secrecy” while dealing with such cases.
Kumar said he was writing the letter to his colleagues as he was “anguished” at the recent suicide by a jawan after an alleged sextortion demand.
“I am pained to know about this and I am angry at those who pushed this personnel to such an edge that he chose to end his life,” the DIG wrote. He said he spoke to the superintendent of police (SP) of that district seeking an investigation against the criminals.
Officials said it was found that the deceased jawan reportedly made payments of Rs 2.5 lakh to some accounts that are suspected to be the “mule accounts” of the cybercriminals.
The officer asked his troops that he and their organisation were there to support such victims of fraud and cybercrimes. PTI NES TIR TIR
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