Cyber criminals are generally confident that they cannot be traced or tracked, which explains the impunity with which they commit such crime, reflects Rashmi Karandikar, the DCP heading the Cyber Cell of Mumbai Police. Cyber criminals know, says Dr Rashmi Karandikar, that police would have no CCTV footage to fall back on or look up history-sheeters for clues. They are also careful in not using their personal phones and take other steps to avoid detection. But detection of cyber crimes by Mumbai Police, she points out, has gone up from just about 20% to 60%. She and her team have been in the news after tracking the culprits responsible for operating the Bulli Bai app, used to upload over 100 photographs of Muslim women, including one of the wife of a High Court judge, for ‘mock’ online auction on January 1, 2022. Mumbai Police cracked the case in record time after their Delhi counterparts had failed to make any breakthrough in the similar Sulli Deals app controversy. Karandikar, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics, and a doctorate in sociology, recalls that as the head of the Cyber Cell, her first case dealt with sextortion. The culprits were luring young women during the lockdown to shoot for their YouTube channel, tempting them with breaks in the film industry. Some were forced or persuaded to pose for compromising videos. A few were then blackmailed into paying money.
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