Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): As New Year 2024 has taken off, cyber crooks have set their eyes on children, to subject them to blackmailing and other atrocities by means of online gaming. District cyber crime officials have termed the phenomenon as ‘Task Gaming’, in which children, usually between 13 to 19 years of age, who are involved into online gaming, are made to deposit money on their gaming portals, and later, when they deposit more money on the portal, the amount is siphoned off by the crooks.
The crooks then demand more money from the target kids, and when they fail to do so, blackmail them by threatening to circulate their obscene pictures online. Six such cases have made their way to the police records in January 2024, in which the children have ended up losing as much as Rs 5 lakh to crooks.
The officials at the district cyber crime cell have taken cognisance of the said cases, and are probing them to reach out to the accused. The investigating officials aware of the modus operandi of the crooks told Free Press that in a number of online games, the crooks offer money themselves to the target children to indulge into online gaming.
Once the child becomes addicted to the game, they themselves invest money into the gaming portals. Whenever they fall short of money, the crooks also offer them instant loans. After the child becomes unable to pay loans, the crooks, who have gained access to all their gallery pictures and contacts, begin blackmailing them on various pretexts.
As per a recent survey carried out by Bhopal cyber wing, the children residing in Aishbag, Jinsi Square, Ashoka Garden, Bajaria and MP Nagar are more susceptible to such frauds being executed by crooks.
Advisories for online gaming to be issued soon: DCP (Crime)
Deputy commissioner of police (Crime), Shrutkirti Somwanshi said that advisories will be issued by cyber cell soon, in light of the prevailing ‘Task gaming’. He added that meanwhile, parents must also monitor their kids’ activities on cell phones and other electronic devices.
