Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Social media identity hacking has emerged as another cyber crime in the city apart from loan frauds, UPI related frauds and sextortion frauds. Senior officials of Bhopal district cyber crime cell said 257 cases of social media hacking were reported till first week of September this year.
Police officials said accused involved in almost 89 per cent of cases were close aides of victims. They added that most victims were women as the accused tried to malign their reputation. The accused would send obscene messages to people after hacking IDs of women victims. Apart from sending obscene messages, some of the hackers also demanded money from the people added to friend’s list of victims, resulting in two cyber frauds happening at the same time.
Cyber cell officials said people keep weak passwords, which are easily guessed by their close aides and help them to unlock peoples’ social media handles. When Free Press inquired into it, it was revealed that no separate wing was constituted. Inadequate manpower at the cyber crime cell adds to pendency of cases. Substandard equipment and software make it more difficult to take action.
Two-factor authentication
Assistant commissioner of police (cyber crime) Sujeet Tiwari said two-factor authentication process had been introduced by social media messaging platforms, enabling which, one can ensure complete safety of their account. “Instagram has made Meta Verified feature available for all at a price of Rs 700, which provides additional security to users,” he added.
