Cyber crimes (Part 2)

Many new types of duping with IT have come to the fore. One enterprising man hit upon a very simple idea and made a lot of money before the police come down upon him. His modus operandi was very simple. He would request his friend, a waiter in a famous five star hotel to note down the credit card numbers of the customers paying by credit cards. This man would later shop on-line (buying things on the net using the computers) and buy electronic items. The crime was very simple to commit because in on-line shopping only the credit card number has to be given and no signature is taken.

The Police officer who was speaking to the press later on cautioned the general public not to let the credit card number out of their sight when they are making payments. But what is the point of this exercise? Any how the establishment that has taken a credit card payment holds on to a copy of the bill and the bill has the number of the credit card.

The latest in the sordid tale of cyber crime has come to light recently. A credit card holder is usually allowed only a small percentage of value to be withdrawn in cash terms and a larger percentage of value is allowed in terms of credit. For e.g.: If the total limit is 3000 $ then 1,200 $ can be drawn as cash and goods worth 1,800 $ can be bought on credit terms. To avail the credit terms one has to buy he goods and later pay. The twist comes here. The credit card holder approaches a middleman who would do the following. He would approach a shop keeper who would bill the card holder 3000 $ but would not part with any goods.

In the above transaction the shop keeper gets 250 $ the middleman gets 250 $ and the credit card holder would get 2,500 $ when he is entitled to only 1,200 $. The whole problem with the credit cards is that people have found out indigenous ways of making the most of it. One interesting point is that whenever a credit card owner wants cash he would simply buy a train ticket let’s say of worth 500 $ and immediately cancel the same the next day. The railway department would deduct a nominal amount and the credit card owner would have hard cash of nearly 500 $ worth. It was only recently that the railway departments of many countries are issuing a credit slip and are not handing over cash in case of cancellation.

So the cyber thieves are alive and in many cases much smarter than the cops themselves. So what has to be done to limit (it can't totally be eradicated). Some of the possible solutions to this very worrying problem could be as follows;

- Educate the law enforcement officers with the latest in the IT and also with the latest types of cyber crimes and how these crimes are being tackled in the danced countries

- Introduce a separate subject called Cyber law or cyber crime and make it compulsory for all lawyers police officers, judges and the rest of the law enforcement agencies

- Educate the users if the IT and the relates services like credit card holders, Cell phone owners about the possible misuses and how to guard themselves against these types of crimes.

- Let all the service providers come together and agree on a common protocol, policing or a security system that would protect the common user from a third party misuse.

All the new technologies at one time or another have been seen as destructive or not progressive enough. Information technology can be more of a boon than a bane or a curse. Let us all work together and see that it remains that way.