Awareness on Safe Use of Internet - A Guirim Free Legal Aid Cell Venture

The Guirim Cell conducted yet another legal literacy program this academic year. The Program was held  on 4th December 2015, and the Faculty in charge Prof.. Pearl Monteiro attended the program. The members present were  Afrah Shaikh, Shantanu Karnik, Dorika Dias, Karishma D’mello, Sailee Kenny, Shannon de Almeida, Siya Parob, Sridhesh Naik and Abhishek Petkar.

The programme was organized for the students of Std. IX, the parents and the PTA members of St Anthony’s High School, Monte de Guirim, and the Principal of the School Rev. Fr. Romeo Fernandes was very courteous to give us permission to conduct a major programme in the school hall and give a talk on the topic – Safe use of Internet, however insisted on a speaker who is an expert in the field. The guest speaker for the day was the Police Sub-Inspector Kabir Shirgaonkar of the Cyber Crimes Cell, Ribander, Goa. Around 90 students were present, however unfortunately only 3-4 parents were present for the programme but the students started the programme as scheduled at 8:15 am.

The student member (Shannon de Almeida) was the Comparer for the programme and warmly welcomed all the people present and also acknowledged the support shown by the Principal of the School Fr. Rev. Fr. Romeo Fernandes. Before the Guest Speaker could arrive Shannon gave an insight to the students on L.L.B as a carrier option.

The speaker had arrived and was welcomed to commence with the talk. PSI Kabir Shirgaonkar started by explaining how internet and cybercrimes are related. He said

• Cybercrimes is a vast topic and includes crimes committed by use of a computer or other electronic devices such as a phone, and the use of a network which may be internet or even a mobile network.
• In cybercrime not only when a computer is used to commit a crime but also when it is a target of such crime, it is known as cybercrime.
• Internet is a network used by almost all the people. However many different kinds of crimes have taken birth by use of this medium, but it is our responsibility to be alert and use the available technology smartly and not be a target of the crimes.
• Giving an introduction of the Information Technology Act, 2000  he said
• The law applies to whole of India and is the primary law dealing with cybercrime and electronic commerce.
• Persons of other nationalities can also be indicted under the law, if the crime involves a computer or network located in India.
• This Act provides legal recognition for transactions carried out by means of electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication, commonly referred to as “electronic commerce”, which involve the use of information, to facilitate electronic filing of documents with the government agencies and further to amend other Acts for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
• Some of the most common offences are social networking offences, online and ATM frauds, ATM cloning and Skimming, Vishing and phishing.
• Social networking offences relate to all crimes and cheating done on social networking sites may be through fake profiles etc. however if one is a victim one should seek help or take a screen shot of the same and make a complaint. This will help trace the offender.
• Online and ATM frauds are committed by sending fake emails and SMSes on mobile phones. They are very fascinating and tempting ones where it says you have won one crore etc. but never reply to such messages.
• ATM cloning & Skimming is very dangerous since a device is attached to may be ATM machines or ATM card reader( which are used in restaurants etc.) and it is so slim that it’s difficult to detected by a normal person. These attached devices read all the ATM card data when swiped and store it. Then this data is transferred to another card and the cloned card is ready with the exact same information as the original one. There is no difference. Then this cloned card is used to withdraw money from any ATM machine. There is no way one can find out if your ATM card has been skimmed and cloned. The only way is being alert through SMS from your bank. If one case of siphoning money is noticed, the police should be immediately alerted, because the offender will surely come to withdraw the 2nd time.
• Vishing means fraud phone calls where any personal information is asked. All people should be alert and inform the police or cybercrimes cell, as it may help them trace a long in search offender of similar crime.
• Phishing means a fake website which looks exactly like the original and money is siphoned using fake mails. To check if the mail is sent from an original site or fake one should be alert by opening the view details tab and tracing the name and email id of the sender. If the name is incorrect then it’s a fake mail sent by a fake website. Never reply to such mails, since they can copy all the data on your device within seconds. Also do not forget to alert the police. It will be a great help.
• Various provisions of the IT Act was discussed and the offences and penalties were explained.

Shantanu Karnik (Student Dy. Cell Incharge) then  proposed the Vote of Thanks and a potted plant was presented to the Guest Speaker- PSI Kabir Shirgaonkar by Afrah Shaikh (Student Cell Incharge) as a token of our Gratitude towards him for all his time and the knowledge he imparted. The speaker was delighted. Afrah Shaikh presented a potted plant to the principal as a token. Afrah Shaikh thanked the Principal for his permission to conduct the programme.