Social media has become one of the most important communication channels in recent years. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram have been playing increasingly important roles in our lives, from keeping in touch with our friends and families to finding our significant other and landing our dream job. However, the popularity of social media has also attracted criminals. According to a source, 81 percent of Internet-initiated crime involves social networking sites, mainly Facebook and Twitter. These platforms are ideal sources for criminals to obtain personal information from unsuspecting people, as in a recent case Cyber cell of Goa Police exposed a major Facebook racket exploiting minor and young girls in Goa. Police arrested Chandrahas Rane (36 yrs) from Borim, Goa, for blackmailing at least 10 minors & young girls after procuring their nude photos through Facebook. Read the full report here.
[su_expand more_text=”READ MORE” less_text=” ” height=”0″ hide_less=”yes” link_style=”button” link_align=”center”]According to the sources, the accused would create a fake profile of a women and project himself as a women running an online modeling agency. The accused would then send a Facebook request over the fake profile created and then become friends with the minor and young girls, once a friendship is developed offer them a modeling career with good pay.
It is known that the accused would mostly target minor and young girls and then would ask them to send their regular pictures and then, later on, would ask them to send their semi-naked and naked pictures, which included full naked pictures in different poses. The accused would then ask for their Facebook password for their authentication and then take over the Facebook account. Once taken over he would change the password to the name of his ex- girlfriend and then blackmail the victim to send more and more naked pictures, failing which he would threaten to put in the public domain the pictures already send by the victims.
A Women from Mapusa area had filed a complaint with Cyber Crime Police that her minor daughter’s fake Facebook account has been created by women on Facebook and she was being blackmailed. From the investigation, it is found that the accused has obtained full naked pictures of 10 young and minor girls and would use all possible methods to hide his identity on the internet. The accused had obtained his internet connection on his old address which he had left 4 years back. The accused was also using the internet only during the night and was frequently changing his internet to prevent his tracing.
During the investigation, 125 naked pictures of the complainant’s minor daughter were found in the possession of the accused. The accused was tracked using social media intelligence and other online intelligence. The accused was arrested u/s 67 of IT Act and sec. 8(2) of Goa Children’s Act and is remanded to 7′ day’s police custody.
The cyber Crime Police so far have found naked pictures of 10 different girls who appears to be minors and young girls in the possession of the accused and have attached the laptop used 2 different mobile phones 3 different SIM cards along with one dongle used for the commission of the crime.
The Cyber Crime Police has not yet analyzed the mobile and laptop of the accused, once the analysis is done more victims may be forthcoming. The investigation was carried out by PI Cyber Crime Rajesh Job and his full team consisting of PSI Kabir, PSI Rounak, ASI Vikas PCs Nazir, Amresh, Laximan, Sar‘vesh, Basawraj, Hemant, Gaurish LPC Ayisha who worked on various aspects of the case under the supervision of SP Cyber Crime Karthik Kashyap IPS.
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