It won’t be an exaggeration to call the cyber criminals more dangerous than traditional criminal gangs, such as the infamous ‘Kala Kachha’ gangs. While the latter engage in physical crimes like extortion, smuggling, and violent activities, cyber criminals operate in the digital realm, using advanced technology to cause significant damage. Their methods are sophisticated, and they can target millions of people globally with relative anonymity, which was also the peculiarity of the Kala Kachha gang members.
Cyber attacks have become a new headache for the police across the country and J&K, especially Jammu is also grappling with this relatively new form of crime as almost all the districts have registered such cases in the respective cyber cells created by the cops in the 10 districts. Though cyber attacks, including data breaches, identity theft, ransomware attacks, and financial fraud can result in severe economic losses, disrupt businesses, and compromise national security, but in Jammu region, the online deception is mainly targeting gullible netizens mostly using cell phones.
The lack of awareness in the rural and far off hamlets is being exploited fully by the cyber criminals to deceive and fleece the people by swindling their hard earned money through breaching the security of their financial assets and also by getting their passwords compromised through conventional tricks and frauds.
There is no doubt in the fact that cops in J&K are toiling hard to catch hold of cyber criminals as in many cases in the recent past, the swindled money has been returned by leveraging technology and taking all possible steps but as a matter of fact the cyber criminals are not confined by geographical borders, which makes it harder to apprehend and prosecute these ‘parasites’.
The scale and reach of cyber crimes often surpass the impact of physical crimes, as a single breach can affect individuals, corporations, and governments alike therefore one can say that they are more dangerous than their counterparts ditching people physically. There is another aspect which has led to surge in cyber crimes and that is the growing dependence on online activity making people vulnerable to such crimes.
The constant evolution of hacking techniques and the use of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence by cyber criminals make them a constantly evolving threat, often more elusive and difficult to combat than traditional criminal organizations.
It is therefore imperative for the law enforcing agencies to go for the expertise and remain a step ahead of these criminals as it is necessary to gain the confidence of people and battle this new crime more effectively.
