SIM card cloning by criminal gangs and its growing use to extort money from private persons and public servants is threatening public safety. Cloning one’s mobile SIM number and deceitfully pilfer money is causing alarm at all levels. Reports said that law enforcers from the city’s Uttara have arrested nine members of a gang who spoofed at least 40 Deputy Commissioners’ SIM numbers and were using the cloned numbers to swindle many including, local government representatives and government employees. As the deceitful acts are frightening for the ordinary people, intelligence agencies should be hyperactive to defend people from the high-tech deceptions.
With the transformation to Digital Bangladesh, the government has to extend its security as well to citizens’ digital information and financial institutions from local and trans-boundary digital fraudsters. The government has brought all existing SIMs under bio-metric registration last year, but crime gangs are active to create duplicate SIMs by cloning their numbers. More needs to be done to stop it.
Law enforcers said that the gang in December last year took Tk 70,000 from a Union Parishad Chairman in Sherpur through mobile banking service, after making a call with a spoofed number belonging to the Upazila Nirbahi Officer. The Director General of the Department of Fisheries recently wrote to Rapid Action Battalion headquarters seeking legal steps; as some unscrupulous men have been demanding money and asking for favours from the Fisheries officials by making calls from cloned phone number. The fraudsters have not only extorted money they have also threatened people. Sometimes they even try to hamper the law and order situation sending misleading SMS. Such technique of swindling money in the name of high-ranking officials has stunned the victims and adding to concerns of security experts how to protect mass people from such traps.
The Digital Security Act 2016 has proposed to set up Cyber Security Agency to protect country’s cyber space from extremist and anti-social elements but financial security in the country is still lagged far behind. Using mobile apps and other digital platform, the financial transaction is booming but neither the government nor Bangladesh Bank preparedness is seen adequate to defeat the skilled cyber criminals.
In our view the government must set up cyber intelligence unit to monitor the financial fraudulence using digital media. Unless security in digital space and platform has been made foolproof promoting digital public service will not bring much fruit while adding to greater danger to national security. We are living at a time when digital security could not be distinguished from national security. It needs special training and enforcement units within our Armed Forces and law enforcing agencies so that they can defeat such move.
With the transformation to Digital Bangladesh, the government has to extend its security as well to citizens’ digital information and financial institutions from local and trans-boundary digital fraudsters. The government has brought all existing SIMs under bio-metric registration last year, but crime gangs are active to create duplicate SIMs by cloning their numbers. More needs to be done to stop it.
Law enforcers said that the gang in December last year took Tk 70,000 from a Union Parishad Chairman in Sherpur through mobile banking service, after making a call with a spoofed number belonging to the Upazila Nirbahi Officer. The Director General of the Department of Fisheries recently wrote to Rapid Action Battalion headquarters seeking legal steps; as some unscrupulous men have been demanding money and asking for favours from the Fisheries officials by making calls from cloned phone number. The fraudsters have not only extorted money they have also threatened people. Sometimes they even try to hamper the law and order situation sending misleading SMS. Such technique of swindling money in the name of high-ranking officials has stunned the victims and adding to concerns of security experts how to protect mass people from such traps.
The Digital Security Act 2016 has proposed to set up Cyber Security Agency to protect country’s cyber space from extremist and anti-social elements but financial security in the country is still lagged far behind. Using mobile apps and other digital platform, the financial transaction is booming but neither the government nor Bangladesh Bank preparedness is seen adequate to defeat the skilled cyber criminals.
In our view the government must set up cyber intelligence unit to monitor the financial fraudulence using digital media. Unless security in digital space and platform has been made foolproof promoting digital public service will not bring much fruit while adding to greater danger to national security. We are living at a time when digital security could not be distinguished from national security. It needs special training and enforcement units within our Armed Forces and law enforcing agencies so that they can defeat such move.
