KOCHI: Before setting your passwords for social media accounts, ensure that they are strong enough so that online fraudsters don’t crack it easily. The Kochi Cyber Police, which recently arrested two Uttar Pradesh natives, one of them a school principal, for creating fake Facebook profiles of ADGP Vijay Sakhare, found the accused could hack numerous Facebook accounts that had easy passwords. Arun K S, the SHO of Kochi Cyber police station, said people should be careful while using social media as fraudsters are on the prowl to dupe the public.
“The most common practice is to set passwords based on birth dates, vehicle numbers, mobile phone numbers or names of wife/husband/children. Many then post images of their vehicles, share details of their relatives and their mobile numbers, making them vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Some use employment codes as passwords and then post photos wearing the office ID card. Cyber fraudsters are crooked and will try their best to crack the password. In this case, the accused were able to access the accounts easily as the users had set easy passwords. The accused then created hundreds of fake FB profiles,” he said.
The police said keeping the Facebook profile locked and setting strong passwords are the best options to prevent cyberattacks. “Don’t accept friendship requests from an unknown person. Some accept all kinds of requests just to increase their number of Friends thinking of it as an achievement,” he added. In the case related to the fake profile of the ADGP, the police found that accused persons were able to swindle lakhs of money through cyber fraud.
“The prime accused, Mushtaq Khan of Chowki Bangar in UP, was a school principal and local agent of a public sector bank. He was using his students for such cyber crimes. One of the accused in the case was his student. Khan built a house using the money from fraudulent activities. We are told that a leading lawyer in Supreme Court will appear for his bail hearing at the magistrate court on Wednesday,” said an officer.
The police found one more person was involved in the case, who escaped to Haryana when the raid was held at the UP village. A police officer said the accused persons in the case targeted police officials, especially high ranking ones, and judges to create fake accounts. “They were able to dupe many people by seeking money for fake charity organisations,” he said.
It took nearly seven months of investigation to identify the persons who created the fake profile of the ADGP. According to the police, hundreds of gangs based in remote villages in UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand are involved in similar cybercrimes reported in Kerala.
A police officer with the Kerala High Tech Cell said an underaged teenager from Rajasthan was booked for creating a fake Facebook account of a DGP last year. He said people behind such illegal acts are well aware of loopholes in the Information Technology Act, 2000, to continue with similar fraud activities.
“In most IT Act cases, the punishment will be up to three years of imprisonment unless it is an incident of cyberterrorism or other sensitive matter. Some sections of the act are even bailable and when we arrest accused from other states, they will easily get bail from the court,” the officer said.
How to secure your profile
The police say keeping your Facebook profile locked is one of the best way to prevent from becoming an easy target of cyber fraudsters. Not accepting friendship request of strangers will also help secure your profile.
While investigating the case of fake profile of ADGP Vijay Sakhare, the police found the accused hacked hundreds of accounts having easy passwords
By creating fake profiles of police officers and judges, many swindle social media users. Police say many suspects are from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajastan