Q. Your book provides insight into these criminals' minds and their modus operandi from their own perspectives. Could you elaborate on that?

A. Access to smartphones and cheap internet makes illegitimate activities very low risk and high reward. This happens to people with technological acumen but bad intentions and no proper employment. This even happens because the people on the other side of the screen can be illiterate, especially in India. The modus operandi of phone scammers is mass dialling and even if they find one unaware user they can play with minds, they play with emotions like greed. They put us on a timer to pay them in a limited time.

 

Q. In this age of misinformation and politics, how does one navigate to the true facts of cyberspace?

A. Most often we reach places in cyberspace through some random link, creating misinformation. All these platforms like WhatsApp, Twitter, etc. are designed to make us hooked to them. So, while as informed citizens, we should make a presence on social media but we should not believe everything on it.

 

Q. Do you think our governments and the courts are doing enough to curtail cyber crimes, especially considering the spike seen in the pandemic period?

A. Technological adoption is exponential due to the pandemic. The government is doing very well in dealing with dynamic technology. The art of investigation has truly evolved. But due to our large population and how now it is easy to report crime from home, a larger number of crimes are being reported.