Royal Oman Police exhorts netizens to report cyber crimes

Muscat: The Royal Oman Police (ROP) have called on social media users to report any suspicious cyber malpractice, be it blackmailing, bullying, or any other crime that aims at causing harm to another person.

“Report any attempt of any intruder to lure you to any immoral or illegal activity or if you are potentially exposed to electronic blackmail,” the Public Relations Department of the ROP told the Observer.

“Besides, do not send personal pictures to a stranger or a new friend through any of the social media platforms, nor should you share personal information on any communication programmes,” he further said.

This comes in the wake of the arrest of two people by the General Department of Criminal Investigations on charges of threatening and extortion via social media applications after foiling their attempts to carry out acts contrary to public morality.

The culprits befriended the victims through a fake account on a social media platform where he claimed that he worked for a prominent company in a senior position and that he had lucrative deals for them. Later, he lured them with sums of money and gifts and led them to immoral acts and filming the same. This was

followed by continuous blackmailing and threats of extortion at the end of which the victims decided to report the same to the police.

According to statistics available with the official IT sources, as many as 35 children were involved in cybersecurity crimes in Oman just in a period of six months last year.

Children between 13 to 16 years were said to be the victims of the cybercrimes during the period, and 22 cases were reported the previous year, according to the Oman Computer Emergency Readiness Team (OCERT) at the erstwhile Information Technology Authority (ITA). There were 27 extortion incidents, three fraud cases, and five hacked accounts last year.

“Cybercrimes are increasing and taking different forms,” according to Raqiya al Tobi, Team Leader, Cyber Security Alliances and Cooperation, Oman National CERT.

“This is even more at a time when children are allowed to spend more time online by the parents due to online classes. Make your children your friends and not alienate them. Let them share their day-to-day life details with you,” she added.

According to her, both girls and boys are equally subject to cyber blackmailing, cyberbullying, fraud, and revenge. The fraudsters take delay in reporting such crimes for granted and cases may go unnoticed.

“Members of the families, teachers, and parents should educate their children about the dangers of using social media inappropriately and to recognise such attempts that aim at luring the children and to report any such experience to elders in time,” the ROP official said.