Cyber crimes, cyber security breaches and cyber fraud have become all pervasive, beyond the understanding of the investigators and the regulators. It has become a free for all, but we are not ready to accept it. We still falsely believe that everything is as it was in yesteryears and nothing is gone amiss. Whereas precisely the opposite is the case. Diagnosed and publicly made aware over and over again, yet acceptance of the malaise seems to be way off. This mental state and finding comfort in being at the brink of disaster is termed as Criminal Digital Stupor.
Stupor is defined as suspension or great diminution of sensibility, as in disease or as caused by narcotics, intoxicants etc. You can imagine for yourself what would be the state of affairs if the powers that be top to bottom are afflicted with Criminal Digital Stupor. Various dimensions of one single issue would clarify things once and for all. Digital arrests, investment scams, stock market scam apps, loan apps and at times jobs are all a part of the same racket, the digital fraud ecosystem that they have created but barely ever they feel the heat of enforcement, investigation, judicial conviction etc.
It seems to be a flourishing parallel economy, where there is just cacophony of the government, nothing concrete happens but for one odd big case getting caught here and there. The recent one comes from our very own backyard, where the digital vigil should have been at its best. In a major revelation, the Jammu and Kashmir cyber police have unearthed the formation of 7,200 mule accounts in Kashmir this year. What have the mule accounts been doing? They are involved in cyber frauds to launder crores of money via fake investment and betting scams. So far 21 persons have been arrested in such cases.
The commercial banks behave as if there are no mule accounts. The KYC system is for the law abiding and the God fearing. How can 7,200 mule accounts and this is the tip of the iceberg, with all bankers being unaware of it? Are they bankers in the first place? When money changes hands through these accounts, in seconds, the pattern known, the banks have decided to keep continuing with their account opening spree. What tweaking have they done with the core banking software to set right this issue or at least try for it. The police said that the “mule accounts rented via telegram or facebook, controlled from aboard and active for a few days, are used to funnel money via crypto and layering. We are in the midst of a criminal digital logjam.
HAS WE BEEN ALREADY DIGITALLY USURPED?
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.