Campus Journalist 
How to be safe from criminals of social media?
These days with an increase use of internet and social platforms are giving rise to various cyber crimes dealing with hacking of someone’s ID and intruding their privacy to stalking them in cyber space. According to 2011 census of India, Rajasthan is among the top ten most populated state in the country and where literacy rate is even less than 70 percent. In such states where literacy rate is less, it becomes difficult for them to use such technology which results in exploiting such innocent people in the name of technology and committing an offence because of their lack in these advanced technologies.
This article deals about how the cyber crime is a threat for royal beauty of our country i.e. Rajasthan and some measure how can you be safe in this world of technological revolutions.
Cyber crime in the state have risen by 36.2% over last three years , hence state is right on the top three in the cyber crime category. The cyber crime cases in the state is rising every year, it was 676 cases in 2014 to 949 in 2015 as presented in the National Crime Records Bureau [NCB]. The government has been trying to reduce the ratio of cases and have set up various cyber cells and have conducted regular awareness campaigns and even they have caught gangs of many cyber criminals with the help of many ethical hackers by tracing their IP addresses . As per records , about 290 people were arrested including Nigerians and people from Delhi , Jharkhand and other states.
There were many cases which includes –
• Calls to various people asking for ATM and card verification value [CVV] numbers to bid to withdraw money from their accounts,
• Nigerian frauds ,
• Online shopping frauds ,
• Phishing which means attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information such as usernames and passwords.
• One of the case was of identity thefts in which Mr. x got Mr y [victim]’s ID,driving license , ration cards
• Call SMS forging
• UK jobs and Visa frauds
The government is taking efforts to make their police officers familiar against tracking IP addresses , internet calling and online shopping using ATM cards and many other things as listed above which will help in bringing down the disposal rate of cyber crimes.
We cannot wait for officials to work and curb this evil out, we should also on our part try to eradicate this crime by certain things in
• Use debit cards, credit cards , wire transfer, money orders etc only when the online seller is trusted.
• Check for the feedback and rating of the buyer which most of the online auction website provides
• DO NOT entertain the emails which are received outside the auction website mentioning that the highest bidder has withdrawn and you are the second highest bidder and therefore you entitled the product. They veer you of the auction website and you lose any protection that website may provide
• DO NOT open any suspicious links as it may access your gallery and can harm your privacy
• If you are interested in dating an online partner, you need to verify the partner details as mentioned in the profile before being into relationship and if the partner is overseas make sure to call and cross check the details.
• Always remember that banks ask for specific characters like last 4 digits of the card.
• Keep the authorities informed if you have lost any documents
• Always sign up for SMS/Emails alerts while taking a credit or debit card
• Periodically update your passbook to look any transactions made without your knowledge
• Always follow good security practices for distributing your email address. Applying email filters to manage unwanted traffic.
• DO NOT always believe what you read online. people who even do not have knowledge regarding any matter also put their views which may sometimes results hatred and enmity among various social groups in the country. Therefore be skeptical.
THUS, be safe, work safe and make India safer.
Research By Priyanshi Sharda
Editing By Mahima Gupta