Women taking to cyber crime in large nos

Believe it or not, women appear to be taking more naturally to cyber crime these days, especially, women disgruntled with their jobs and in the mood to take personal revenge. That’s what some crackshot cyber-sleuths have to say. Latest statistics suggest that almost 20% of such cyber crimes in India are committed by women, and the trend is on the rise.

Experts confirm that cyber crime tops the list of white-collar crimes committed by Indian women. “The internet somewhat gives a sense of anonymity to the person. Hence, the tendency is more among women to commit cyber crime. The number is nearly 30% in Kolkata,” says deputy commissioner (detective department) of Kolkata Police Gyanwant Singh.

The non-violent nature of such crimes tend to trigger the ‘criminal’ instinct. “Women feel it is much more sanitised to commit such offences. Competition in workplace, desire to earn fast money and lack of proper parental guidance at an early age are also reasons,” says Jairanjan Ram, consultant psychiatrist at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Kolkata.

The crimes, typically, committed by women in the Indian cyberdom include copyright and logo theft, phishing, malicious emails, malicious use of social networking sites and ecommerce . Most accused women are found to be highly educated, financially independent and in their early 20’s and 30’s .

It has also been estimated that 80% of cyber crimes are committed by ‘insiders’ and the balance 20% by hackers. For instance, the Mumbai Police recently unearthed a case where an ex-employee was sending obscene and threatening email to a superior colleague for nearly three months. On interrogation, it was revealed that the crime was committed by a women who was working under the complainant for a year. She posed as a male and had sent the emails to take revenge for alleged ill-treatment doled out to her.

Mumbai Police’s cyber crime cell officer Mukund Pawar said investigations has revealed that most cases lodged against women are mainly related to malicious emails. “Otherwise, the tendency to commit other cyber crimes is much less.”

The police has even registered few cases in Bangalore where IT firms threaten their women employees with charges of cyber crime if they quit their job. Karnataka’s directorgeneral of police Ajai Kumar Singh told ET: “While there have been some instances where women employees are charged with copyright violation, but some IT companies have even resorted to such tactics to retain employee.”

However, the women cyber criminals are yet to become a reality in the semi-urban region. “Women cyber criminals are yet to become a rage in the towns. It is equally alarming that women are the biggest victim of such attack accounting for nearly 40% of cases registered,” says deputy superintendent of police (cyber crime) of Tamil Nadu, S Balu.

Source:economictimes