Probe agencies need to acquire advanced technical skills

The latest report of the National Crime Record Bureau reveals that 72% of the total identity theft reported across the country were committed in Bengaluru

The latest report of the National Crime Record Bureau reveals that 72 per cent of the total identity theft reported across the country were committed in Bengaluru. The revelation may be shocking, but it also shows increasing willingness among people to report such crimes.

A criminal commits identity theft by assuming the identity of another person with the intention to commit fraud. The modus operandi of the crime is common. The criminals collect various personal information about the victims and use them to commit crimes for financial gain. The cyber criminals often target victims who use public and free Wi-Fi.

Why is Bengaluru the identity theft capital of India? What makes Bengaluru top the list of cyber crimes and most of all identity theft cases?

Read | Bengaluru: India’s IT (Identity Theft) capital

One of the reasons is that the law enforcement agencies do not possess the right skills or expertise to identify, prevent or solve identity theft or similar crimes. The lack of awareness among the citizens as well as among the law enforcement officers themselves about identity theft, the Information Technology laws and other legal provisions also contribute to increasing number of such crimes. The root of the problem has to be identified and preventive measures have to be taken in order to reverse the current scenario.

In identity theft cases, the first step towards identifying and solving the crime is reporting it. Once the report is filed, the investigation begins with first identifying the source from where the personal information of the victim got leaked or stolen. These days, important documents of people are digitally stored and personal information are also available on social media platforms used by them. It is very easy for fraudsters to steal information and commit a crime. The law enforcement officials should be able to pinpoint the particular type of identity theft and the digital sources such as phones and other gadgets, social media accounts, online shopping accounts, third party credit lines, accounts registered with travel apps, the documents submitted through applications online or the information shared on websites for requesting any services. These sources need to be extracted and analysed thoroughly to pinpoint the leak, which will narrow down the suspect pool and the evidence can be traced back to identify the culprits.

The law enforcement agencies at present lack the skill required to extract and analyse these digital information sources expeditiously, before the criminals can erase traces. They currently need assistance from the experts, who are well-equipped with required technical skill, experienced in handling such crimes and possess in-depth understanding of the vulnerability of the digital data. But the agencies should also need to acquire skills, including the ones required to bypass security protocols of the social media accounts and digitally protected data.

(The writer is the CEO of Group Cyber ID Technologies, a company which helps Bengaluru Police in investigation into identity theft cases and other cyber crimes.)