Are you victim of cybercrime? Do not hesitate to report to Dubai Police

Dubai: Dubai Police have reminded residents to report online fruad using the hassle free e-Crime platform without the need to visit a police station.

“This Self-Service (e-crime portal) allows the public to record a complaint regarding cybercrimes. To facilitate the procedures, please fill out the form and ensure that you have as much information as possible, so that we can help you as quickly and as best as possible. Note: This service is specific to crimes happened within the geographical scope of Dubai city,” Dubai Police tweeted.

An ‘Old-School Hacker’ Fights Cybercrime

You probably know better than to plug a USB flash drive from an unknown source into your computer. It could infect your machine with malicious code. But would you think twice about a cord? You should.

Kevin Mitnick hands me an iPhone charging cable. Like a magician, he asks me to inspect it. It looks kosher. He plugs it into a laptop. Then he picks up a different computer and commandeers the laptop, including its web camera.

Unlike a magician, he shows me how he did it. The USB end of the cable has been retrofitted with a tiny hardware implant. With a Bluetooth transmitter in his hand, he injected keystrokes into the “victim’s” computer, which downloaded and installed malware from the internet.

Cyber crime risk in free public WiFi

Cyber experts fear that the free Wi-Fi in public places could act as an invitation to cyber criminals who hide beneath the veil of the Internet's anonymity and therefore, identifying the culprit will prove difficult for investigators.

While announcing the go-ahead for the free Wi-Fi scheme on Thursday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that with 11,000 hotspots, the project will be the biggest initiative of its kind not just in India but the world.

Once rolled out, the facility will allow smartphone and PC users to avail free Internet services within a 50-metre radius at parks, mohalla clinics and markets.

Don't be the next cybercrime victim in UAE

Despite heightened awareness drives, several people - young and old - still fall victim to cybercrimes, according to the Sharjah Police. Worse, many of them are reluctant to report incidents because they are too 'ashamed' of having been duped.

In 2018, more than 90 cases of cybercrime have been logged, but the police said there could possibly be more since many incidents remained unreported.

A victim who lost Dh2 million, for example, didn't approach the police.