MUSCAT: Oman is witnessing significant rise in cybercrimes going by the statistics compiled by the police.
According to Brigadier Jamal bin Habib Al Quraishi, Director-General of Inquiries and Criminal Investigations at Royal Oman Police (ROP), cybercrimes in the country have increased by 25% in 2020 compared to 2019.
Al Quraishi noted that most cyber criminals use social media platforms to carry out fraudulent activities and in most cases those who fall victims to cybercrime do not report the case due to the sensitivity of information they shared with the offender. “Cases of fraud and extortion through websites and social media platforms have become among the most prominent types of crime,” Al Quraishi said.
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“Although many of these sites have positive effects, they also have a negative impact on society. Many are obsessed with spending time on social media, and this is what blackmailers take advantage of,” he noted.
In the last many months, the department of economic crimes had dealt with a lot of crimes committed via social media platforms such as Whatssapp, Instagram, Snapchat as well as the fake trading platforms.
“A number of those fake companies that promote unreal investments luring their victims with large returns. Many people had fallen victims to such scammers only to find out that they are fake”, Al Quraishi said.
“Such fraudulent schemes promote their fake businesses mainly by posting some people purported to be successful investors who have gained a lot of money within a short span of time by trading currency, oil and stocks. They also exploit official newspapers and government websites to lure their victims”, he noted.
Al Quraishi said ROP have arrested a number of criminals in past many months. “But many of the offenders are based outside the Sultanate, besides the victims do not have enough information about the offenders apart from numbers of bank accounts managed abroad. In this regard ROP cooperates with other countries through the International Criminal Police (Interpol) to try and bring the offenders to justice,” he added.
