TILL LAST year, it was the dark, smoky bar that used to be the haunt of criminals in Mumbai. On the threshold of the new millennium, it’s the cyber café, call it Crime Café if you will.
Cheats, swindlers, high-class call girls and even prostitutes are making a beeline for cyber cafes to conduct their business on the Net. While the Net has made it possible to do business and gather information at lightning speeds, crime cannot be far behind.
There has been a steady rise in the number of crimes committed through cyber cafes in the city. Says Kiran Pagare, a senior police inspector at the missing persons bureau, , “There are a lot of youngsters at cyber cafes and criminals are trying to take advantage of them.”
Fourteen-year-old Abrar Ashraf’s family is totally shattered. He was “abducted” on November 2, by a 36-year woman called Persis William, whom be befiended in a chat room. Apparently, Persis’s game plan was to send Abrar to Pakistan. Both of them had a relationship as well, despite the age difference.
“I am afraid this is all a manifestation of the Internet era we live in. I have sold my computer at a loss because I do not want my kids to get into any problem,” says Inspector Pagare.
Crimes through chat rooms are just not limited to abduction. Take the case of Sagar, who was mrobbed of this cellphone and laptop on Diwali moening, by Sheena, whom he had net and got close to through a chat room on Talk City. The police have been unable to come up with anything about Sheena. She seems to have just disappeared into cyberspace.
There are cases which do not involve criminal too. A 17-year-old girl From Bandra’s MMK College ran away to Moradabad in Up to meet the man she fell in love with through the Net. “Her father has rushed to Moradabad to find her. The Mumbai Police have sent a team there. Her family is shattered,” said Mr Pagare.
Says former Joint Commissioner of Police A.A. “I am concerned about the vulnearbility of today’s youngsters. Internet provides a criminal with the security to talk to anyone on his terms. At this rate, criminals may just take over the Net.”
A frightening prospect indeed.
By : Ketan Tanna