Novel Impact of COVID-19 on CRIME
Stay Home is not equivalent to Stay Safe from Crime!
What is your opinion towards the Crime Rate in a Country where stepping outside home becomes the highlight of the week?
In this period of quarantine we are trapped inside our home, the safest place one can possibly imagine from all sorts of crime but are we really SAFE?
Yes/No, your answer depends upon precaution and awareness you have towards your surrounding. From domestic violence to cyber crime, staying in home is not equivalent to safe from crime and these words of mine is strictly in context to the Crimes not to Corona Virus.
I have no intention to make you anxious or nervous in this tense situation rather I want to spread awareness/updates towards these crime.
Novel Impact of COVID-19 on CRIME
Domestic abuse and cyber crime need no foot outside.
Presenting you some updates regarding increase in domestic abuse and cyber crime.
1- DOMESTIC ABUSE
Women
and children who live with domestic violence have no escape from their abusers
during quarantine, and from Brazil to Germany, Italy to China, activists and
survivors say they are already seeing an alarming rise in abuse.
#In Spain
– where lockdown rules are extremely strict, and many people are being fined
for breaking them – the government has told women they will not be fined if
they leave home to report abuse.
But on
19 March, the country saw the first domestic violence fatality since the lock-down began five days earlier, when a woman was murdered by her husband in
front of their children in the coastal province of Valencia.
#In the
UK, Mandu Reid, leader of the Women’s Equality party, has called for special
police powers to evict perpetrators from homes for the duration of the
lockdown, and for authorities to waive court fees for the protection orders.
Authorities on this issue-
“The
epidemic has had a huge impact on domestic violence,” Wan Fei, a retired police
officer who founded a charity campaigning against abuse, told Sixth Tone
website. “According to our statistics, 90% of the causes of violence [in this
period] are related to the Covid-19 epidemic.”
“We
think there has been a rise of 40% or 50%, and there was already really big
demand,” said Adriana Mello, a Rio de Janeiro judge specialising in domestic
violence. “We need to stay calm in order to tackle this difficulty we are now
facing.”
“One
message was from a woman who had locked herself in the bathroom and wrote to
ask for help,” said Lella Palladino, from EVA Cooperativa, an activists’ group
for the prevention of violence against women. “For sure there is an
overwhelming emergency right now. There is more desperation as women can’t go
out.”
“Being
confined to home because of coronavirus is difficult for everyone, but it
becomes a real nightmare for female victims of gender-based violence,” the
union said in a statement.
In an article "A ‘box’
for women to vent their frustrations" Initiative
by Ernakulam District Kudumbashree Mission is stated, the District Kudumbashree Mission (DKM) has
launched Frustration Box, a novel initiative to help women tackle domestic
pressures and job-related anxieties during the lock-down period.
2- CYBER CRIME
Increase and global spread of cyber crime is partly linked to the increase of devices being used and amount of time we spend online. These elements are currently exacerbated by our transition into a quarantine
environment on a global scale, where the majority are constantly online, either
for work, communicating with friends and family, shopping or entertainment.
Coping
with the technical challenges and the cyber threats linked with this novel way
of operating will be difficult, particularly if there is little prior knowledge
and experience of using online systems and platforms.
Some recent crimes are-
Fake UPI (Unified Payments Interface) ID of the PM CARES Funds
UPI is a
real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India
for inter-bank transactions. It
is easy to create an account using the UPI platform. One just needs an ID
that could be even one’s mobile number or name, and a four-digit PIN. The
offence highlighted by the DCP, has nothing to do with the security of
UPI as such. It is phishing, in which the offender creates a similar-looking ID
to deceive users.
On March
29, the DCP Cyber Crime, Delhi’s official Twitter account alerted citizens
about a fake UPI (Unified Payments Interface) ID of the PM CARES Fund,
pmcare@sbi – the correct UPI ID to donate for coronavirus victims is
pmcares@sbi. The Delhi police took suo motu cognisance of the fraud, registered
an offence of cheating under sections 419 and 420 of IPC, and blocked this and
a number of other similar accounts. The number of persons cheated and amount
defrauded can only be known when the investigation is over.
Facebook frauds
Facebook is always prone to cyber frauds and if privacy setting is not consciously setup to protect an account than it is always susceptible to cracking and hacking for wrongful gain of your personal/private information.
Virtual Private Networks e.g- Zoom
Recently,
the popular video-conferencing app Zoom, which can add up to 100 participants
in a call, has come across as vulnerable. As the meeting ID can be shared
through a link, on screen and other mediums; uninvited guests can also join a
meeting and gain access to sensitive information.
When one
uses Zoom, it seeks permission for accessing the user’s microphone, web-cam and
data storage. This can result in hijacking and loss of private data. Users may
also experience ‘Zoomraiding’ or ‘Zoombombing’ in which hate speech,
pornography or other content is suddenly flashed by disrupting a video call on
Zoom.
The
chief executive of Zoom apologized for “falling short” on security issues
including sharing user data to Facebook and wrongly claiming end-to-end
encryption etc, and promised to address concerns.
Criminal are coming up with innovative ways of exploiting public for their benefit. These criminal are making application and phishing pages to meet their intention. From emails purporting to be sharing COVID-19
cure-related advice, in order to harvest personal data, to possible tax refunds
and fake donation sites, cyber criminal are all set and prepared, Are You Prepared ENOUGH?
Interpol’s advisory
In
guidelines for law-enforcement agencies on March 26, Interpol warned about the
emerging trend of false or misleading advertisements about medical products,
setting up of fraudulent e-commerce platforms, phishing etc during the
pandemic.
It has
recommended, inter alia, that people avoid opening suspicious emails and
clicking links in unrecognized emails and attachments; back up files regularly;
use strong passwords; keep software updated; and manage social media settings
and review privacy/security settings. Cyber experts also recommend the use of ‘https’
protocol for secure financial transactions.
In case
you become a victim, report it to the police immediately. These are
computer-related wrongs covered under the IT Act, 2000, liable for penalty and
compensation, and criminal liability in appropriate cases.
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DISCLAIMER- The purpose of this blog is to spread updates regarding present situation and not to create chaos. I am not professional cyber expert for more tips and advice please take help from professional experts. Proper precaution and awareness will definitely help to tackle the situation.
Hope you like the blog. I am sure you can add more to this and would love to hear from you, share your thoughts in the below comment section.
Hope you like the blog. I am sure you can add more to this and would love to hear from you, share your thoughts in the below comment section.
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