IT used in majority of crimes committed

Sharjah: Crimes, in which information research is used, are accountable for about 70 per cent of all crimes according to a recent study in Abu Dhabi, which showed that most crimes were committed using information innovation, a Dubai Police officer said.

Addressing interrogators, judges and law students, Major Saeed Mohammad Al Hajeri, Head of the Information Innovation Crime Department of Dubai Police, said recent studies show that cyber criminals keep up with new developments in IT.

The Institute of Training

In his lecture titled ‘Procedures Followed in Investigating Information Innovation Crimes' delivered at the Institute of Training and Judicial Studies in Sharjah, Major Al Hajeri said any new software or system mostly comes with many security gaps and other shortcomings, and criminals make the most of that.

Among the most common crimes is providing illegal VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls, which is the preferred method of communication for drug smugglers and human traffickers, among others, since these calls are hard to trace, he explained.

The family that has no awareness against blackmail

"This is why we say that proxy protects the family that has no awareness against blackmail and email hacking," Major Al Hajeri said. The internet is often used in scams, which are often reported in the UAE.

"A person will receive an email or a phone message informing them that they had won a prize and in order to receive it, they must transfer some money, or send phone credit, to a certain account or phone number. These crimes normally involve a fraudster and a mule, who receives the money from victims and transfers it to the fraudster," Major Al Hajeri said.