Monday, 08 May 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday launched the Hindi version of Cyber Encounters, a book written by the director general of police Ashok Kumar and co-authored by former DRDO scientist OP Manocha. The book gives an insight into the world of cyber criminals and the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies while tracking and catching them. Dhami said that the book is very relevant and informative in today’s scenario of rapidly growing cyber crime. He said that cyber crime is the biggest challenge in today’s time and this book makes the public aware of it with more detailed information and how police tackle it.
The CM also shared his experience when he almost became the victim of cyber fraud nearly a decade ago. “A man called me and said that you have not done any transaction in your account for quite a long time due to which it would be closed soon. He asked me for my ATM number and associated details to keep the account working. I gave him all the details immediately. When I tried to call him again, there was no response. I immediately called the officials concerned and froze my account to prevent withdrawal of money. If I can fall into the trap of such people then anybody can and we all need to stay alert of such scams,” said Dhami.
Speaking on online crime, the DGP said, “Cyber crime is the latest and the biggest challenge for police across the country. We had recently received nearly 46 complaints regarding fraud in Kedarnath helicopter services. The police work against such cyber crimes but it is quite challenging to nab such fraudsters. One can commit such crimes sitting anywhere in the world. The volume of such crimes is so high.” He said that updated awareness and knowledge of internet space are quite necessary. It is so important that future wars are going to be fought in the cyberspace, added Kumar. Manocha also talked about online sextortion and how men and young women, irrespective of their age, are being extorted using morphed images and texts from cyber criminals. He said that fear is the tool cyber criminals use against people in such cases to blackmail them and the victim should complain against them without being scared. The vice chancellor of Doon University Surekha Dangwal said that people are not just citizens but netizens as they spend a large part of their life browsing the internet. She said, “Our mobile data is today’s golden currency which is used by cyber criminals to commit serious crimes by using our personal, professional and private information stored on our mobile phones. We need digitally smart young people to tackle such frauds.”
Additional chief secretary Radha Raturi, former DGP Anil Raturi and others were also present on the occasion.
