The rising cases of identity theft or creation of fake IDs in order to commit some illegal activity on various social media platforms, including Facebook, has become a major headache for the investigating agencies in the state. Generally, the miscreants indulge in such activities by impersonating others. In a majority of cases, four reasons have been cited for creation of fake accounts.
One, to dupe gullible people of their hard earned money through the fake accounts. Three recent examples of this nature are: a BJP legislator, and Odia actors Anubha and Babushan. In all these cases, the miscreants created fake accounts on their names and asked for money from their fans that were added as friends on Facebook. In the third case, the cyber criminals pleaded for monetary help from a Sundargarh woman “for treatment of Uttam Mohanty”, the yesteryear superstar and father of Babushan.
Two, jilted and estranged lovers use fake accounts to tarnish the image of their ex-girlfriends by posting private moment video clips and photos. Sometimes, they also post pornographic material on the account by morphing the picture with victim’s photo. Such cases have been increasing by leaps and bounds in the state for the past few years.
Three, cases have also been registered regarding honey trapping victims through fake Facebook IDs of girls on Facebook by the cheats. As recently as July 18, four swindlers were arrested by the police in Bargarh district for looting a businessman hailing from Nuapada of `6 lakh by honey trapping him. First the conmen befriended the businessman, Bikash Agarwal, by creating a fake Facebook ID of a girl. They called him to a secluded place and later looted him at gunpoint. Another such incident came to the fore, December 5, 2017, after the arrest of some B Tech students in the Capital who kidnapped a student for ransom. They used the same modus operandi for executing the crime.
Four, some cases were also reported about criminals creating fake Facebook IDs to trap innocent girls by posing themselves as rich men or highly paid government or private employees. A few days ago, a fraudster identified as Rajat Panda of Tihidi block in Bhadrak district married a girl from Mayurbhanj district by posing himself as an IAS officer. Later, it was found that he had fooled another three girls earlier through fake Facebook IDs.
However, in some rare cases, fake IDs have helped some people. In such an interesting case, a lady trapped her unfaithful fiancé through a fake Facebook account in the Capital city February 9. She created a fake account on FB with another girl’s photo as profile picture and later lured her fiancé into her trap exposing him.
According to sources in the cyber cell of the Crime Branch at Cuttack, majority of the cases reported with the cyber police station is related to posting objectionable images of girls by creating fake FB accounts. For example, around 19 cases were registered in 2014 with the cyber police station and out of that 10 were filed in connection with posting of porno material through fake Facebook accounts.
According to Anil Anand, an investigating officer at the cyber cell in Cuttack, “Facebook has no server in India. So, we have to inform the Facebook authorities in the US online after a case was registered with the cyber police station. That’s one of the reasons why a case takes a lot of time to be resolved.”
In 2017, Facebook authorities had admitted about presence of a whopping 27crore fake or duplicate accounts on their social media platform. Around 10 per cent of the total FB accounts are duplicates of the original users and most importantly the numbers have been increasing rapidly.
Apart from fake FB accounts, the menace of sharing images and videos of intimate moments on social media platform by creating fake accounts has engulfed our present generation. Sometimes, the scourge pushes hapless victims into the clutches of death. Every other day a new video clip emerges on WhatsApp and Facebook, the two most popular social media Apps among the youth.
Any intermediary who intentionally or knowingly contravenes the provisions of sub section (1) shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be penalised.
Indian Cyber Laws
Fake profiles on social media are a problem most users face. Fake profiles of celebrities are rampant, as are also profiles with fake names and details. These fake profiles are often used to commit cyber crimes anonymously. It’s alarming that there has been a 168 per cent rise in such cybercrimes across the globe in the last one year.
It is interesting that these days many real world thefts have their roots in social media. Burglars are creating networks of fake profiles to target potential victims as such connections allow them to uncover a variety of personal information about users and their whereabouts, making their homes easy targets. A recent survey found that 56 per cent of social media users had discussed an event, evening or holiday plans ‘wall-to-wall’ on Facebook, potentially making them vulnerable to criminals to be target them.
CYBER STALKING
Cyber stalking involves using a computer or communication device to send information that is grossly offensive, menacing, annoying, and intimidating for a victim. There are many cases where victims are threatened that if they do not pay money to the perpetrators, their obscene or morphed photos would be posted on social media. Sometimes, the victims are also threatened online of dire consequences if they refuse to oblige their perpetrators.
IDENTIFYING THE REAL FACE
Advanced cyber forensic tools and analysis of log files have made it possible to trace the real people behind fake profiles. Their names and addresses can be easily traced and legal action taken against them.
In most cases the purpose of making a fake social media profile has a hidden criminal intention of the perpetrator. It is either means to commit the cyber crimes of cyber stalking, cyber defamation. Both these cyber crimes are punishable under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which makes “using a computer or communication device to send data which is injurious or offensive” an offence. It states that:
Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a
communication device:
n Any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; or
n Any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, or ill will, persistently makes by making use of such computer resource or a communication device,
n Any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine.
LEGAL RECOURSE
A victim must file a complaint with the cyber crime cell or Adjudicating Officer in the format mentioned in the Information Technology Act, 2000 with the fees payable.Also, the victim must contact the intermediary to take temporary action against the offender.
It is always advisable to interact with people you personally know on social media, however, if you do interact with people you don’t know well it is best to check out mutual friends. If you do spot any fake profiles on social media, you must report the same, as you not only will save yourself from cyber crimes, but also many others who could fall prey to such scammers.
While the social media has helped people come closer, turning the globe into a virtual village, the downside is that it has led to a wide range of scams hitherto unknown. Among them, fake ID (opening accounts with fraudulent identity) is the biggest menace that has ruined many a life.
Incidentally, celebrities are not the sole victims of fake ID. In fact, everyone on social media is vulnerable to falling prey to hackers, who create fake IDs to cheat people of their reputation, money and much more. In recent times, there have been several instances wherein unscrupulous elements have created fake IDs of city school and college girls only to cheat and defame them as well as others.
Recently, Crime Branch of Odisha Police arrested two Nigerians – Zouzou Alex,34, from Dalola Gbobele and Erikumme,46 alias Sunny from Ahimi Aebor from Delta state in New Delhi for cheating a city-bsed woman of `10.49 lakh through a fake Facebook ID.
In her compliant, the victim alleged that she befriended one Bhupinder Singh, a US-based doctor, on Facebook. One day she received a message from her Facebook “friend” asking her to deposit `10 lakh in a particular bank account to avail valuable gifts from the doctor. But even after depositing the money she did not receive her gifts. Instead, her so-called friend asked her to send additional money for the transfer of her gifts. Consequently, she deposited another `49,000, but still did not receive the gifts.
When her friend stopped responding to her queries regarding the money as well as the promised gift, the victim smelled foul play and registered a complaint with the Cyber Crime police station in Cuttack, February 13. Acting on the complaint, the Crime Branch registered a case under different Sections of Information Technology Act, 2000 and subsequently made the arrests from New Delhi.
This is not an isolated case as several such cases have come to the light in the city in recent months. Not only girls, even boys, face the problem of fake IDs. Five persons, including two B Tech students, were arrested by the Commissionerate Police in the capital city March 5 in connection with the abduction of a Plus II student from Bhubaneswar February 26. The accused created a fake Facebook ID of girl to trap the victim, Gourav Rath.
Commissioner of Police said a girl was also part of the kidnapping gang. Gourav was trapped by the accused youths who had called him to meet them by creating a fake Facebook ID of a girl. They kidnapped the boy from Chandrasekharpur area and demanded a ransom of `11 lakh. However, the boy was set free after his father paid a ransom of `2 lakh. During investigation, police traced the culprits to a rented house in Bomikhal area and arrested them.
Naimisha Aranya, a city girl who once faced the menace, said, “I believe this is simply a misuse of technology to spread fake news and hate. Most fake IDs are created to take revenge or defame a person. It is sad that our IT laws are not yet strong enough to curb this menace and punish the guilty.
Another blogger Sunemi Bagh says, “I have faced this problem on many occasions. There have been several instances of people using my name or photo to create fake IDs on Facebook. I think people do this for fun, while there are others who do this to cheat and defame others. There should be some system to prevent people from creating fake IDs and punish the culprits by tracking their location & IP address. Moreover, Web crime should be considered as a heinous crime like rape or murder.”
She went on to add, “We should raise awareness about cyber crime and ensure that the culprits get exemplary punishments so that people don’t dare to do such things. The government should ensure that such crimes are prevented. It can be done by making identity proof mandatory for opening an account on social media.”
Actress Sindura Rout said, “As celebrities we are in constant limelight and very vulnerable to fake IDs. I have faced this problem several times. The first time I faced this fake ID menace was when I was a student and did not become an actress. The guy who made my fake ID actually created a sex worker’s profile with my photo and my mumma’s telephone number. He was inviting phone calls from customers. As a result, my mother started getting calls and then we came to know about this fake ID. Subsequently, we lodged an FIR with the Cyber Crime police and found that the culprit was a known guy.”
“During that period I was really disturbed. And I think whoever faces this kind of situation should raise her voice and not hide anything from the family. At the end of the day, they are the only ones who give us support and strength. I would advise girls to be brave enough to speak out their experiences and create
awareness on cyber crime.
