Mizoram: The COVID-19 pandemic and the imposed lockdown have provided more opportunities for cybercriminals to take advantage of the situation. The sudden change in our way of living and use of the internet has prompted the escalation of cybercrimes in Mizoram. It can be said that not only have the existing online fraudsters expanded their operations and came up with new ideas of cybercrimes, but street criminals have also turned to cyber crimes as well.
There has been a significant spike in cybercrimes in Mizoram during the COVID-19 induced lockdown, as many as 267 FIRs had been received at Cybercrime Police Station, Aizawal, from January 2021 to June 2021 as compared to 163 FIRs received in 2020. The Cybercrime Police Station has analyzed these offenses to conclude that 71% of them were online financial frauds, 17% were social media harassment that includes sexual harassment, and the rest 12% were other crimes such as hacking, identity theft, false rumor, sextortion, and copy infringement.
In this regard, the public is requested not to share, date of birth, internet banking password, one-time password(OTP), and personal information to anyone on social media. One of the ways fraudsters used is to let small Apps and sending harmful links. Do not click on these Apps and do not click on unknown links. Internet users are once again appealed to stay alert to cybercrimes.
