Phony FB profiles keep cybercrime cell on toes

PANAJI: Over the past week, the cyber crime cell of the Goa police has been flooded with a spate of complaints by women regarding fake Facebook profiles being registered in their names by unidentified persons. These profiles are then misused to chat with contacts and to even send lewd messages to them. Crime branch SP Karthik Kashyap, said that last week, they had received complaints against six such unidentified persons.
Kashyap said the accused used names and photographs of the victims to create these profiles. The victims get to know about these fake profiles only when they log onto Facebook or, in some cases, when friends inform them of the same.
The reasons for this, officials say, range from enmity to love affairs gone bad. In some cases, fake profiles are created simply because the accused wants to get in touch with friends of the victims.
Kashyap said that when FIRs are registered, the police first delete the fake profiles and then begin their investigation. He said identifying the accused takes some time as Facebook takes close to two months to provide the information they seek. “Once we receive the information, we can quickly trace the accused, who are then arrested,” he said.
In September 2014, the cybercrime cell had arrested a 22-year-old girl from Cuncolim in connection with the creation of eight fake Facebook profiles and then using the fake identities to post sexually explicit messages against girls accompanied by their photographs.
Among the other cases registered and being investigated by the cybercrime cell are those involving financial crimes like cheating, credit card fraud and money laundering; cyber photography involving production and distribution of pornographic material; sale of illegal articles such as narcotics, weapons, wildlife; intellectual property crime such as theft of computer source codes, software piracy, copyright infringement, trademark violation, use of viruses, and cyber terrorism.