Prank email proves costly for teenager

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: A 16-year-old college student from Gujarat has been arrested and brought to the city for sending an email to a private news channel, threatening to blow up local trains at Andheri railway station.

The teenager, Sunnay Patel, son of a clerk in Ahmedabad, was picked up on Friday from his residence and brought to Mumbai. Patel posed as a member of the Dawood gang and sent an email to the news channel.

His mail read: “There will be blasts in local trains near Andheri railway station. Prevent it, if you can.’’ The mail was sent by a username dgang4blast@yahoo.com.

The only son of his parents Patel a class XI (Science faculty) student, has been sent to the Dongri remand home and will be produced before a juvenile court on Monday.

The teenager said that he had wanted to play a prank on the investigating agencies. The news channel forwarded the email to the cyber crime investigative cell (CCIC) and the Mumbai anti-terrorism squad (ATS). Investigators discovered that the Internet Protocol (IP) address was from Ahmedabad and BSNL was the Internet Service Provider.

Even though the Gujarat anti-terrorism squad was also informed of the details, they unable to nab him.

“We had informed the Gujarat anti-terrorism squad at a time when the user was online and he could have been caught red-handed. However, the Gujarat police reached the spot too late and by that time a Mumbai police team had already left for Ahmedabad. Patel was caught from his residence,’’ said an officer.

WEB CRIME
In September 2006, the ATS had picked up an 18-year-old boy, Sharique Khan, for sending an email to a news channel. The mail written on behalf of a terror outfit, Lashkar-e-Qahar, claimed the responsibility for the serial train blasts in Mumbai on July 11, 2006. Sharique, a college student in Bhopal, had told the investigators that he was very excited and wanted to see the impact of his email on news channels, which ran the story for several days

In another case, Kolkata resident Dinesh Prasad Gupta had in October, 2007 sent an email to the BSE and NSE, threatening to blow up the two installations. He had sent the email to NSE assistant vice-president Sup rabhat Lala. Gupta, who posed as Pakistan’s secret service agency ISI’s agent Abdul Rashman, had written in the mail: “This is to inform you that, within 48 hours of receiving this email, the NSE and BSE buildings will be blown up—From Abdul Rashman, ISI agent.’’ Gupta later told the police that he had suffered a loss in the share market and that is why he had sent a threatening mail.

ATS detains fake note supplier

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: A counterfeit currency supplier was picked up by the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) in West Bengal and brought to Mumbai for questioning in connection with the encounter deaths of two suspected Bangladeshi nationals last week.

Abdar Ali Mandal (45) was nabbed from Swaroop Nagar Market near Amudiagon in North 24 Parganas, ATS sources said, adding that he had supplied fake currency amounting to Rs 10 lakh to one of the slain suspects, Mohammed Ali, to circulate in the city. Ali had come to deliver the currency and 2 kg RDX to one Babu when both were shot down by the ATS team in Kashimira, Thane district. Both the bodies are still lying unclaimed at JJ Hospital.

“Mandal is also a wanted accused in a 2007 case when the ATS had arrested six Bangladeshi nationals with Rs 11.25 lakh fake Indian currency. During our the investigation of the Kashimira encounter, we came to know that the fake currency being carried by Ali was supplied by Mandal. More arrests will follow,’’ said ATS chief Hemant Karkare.

Mandal has been sent to police custody till April 2. He had visited Mumbai on several occasions in the past and had “close contacts’’ with several people in the city. The ATS is now preparing a list of such people so that they can be questioned .

The police have also seized several incriminating documents from Mandal. It is learnt that Mandal had supplied fake currency to some more people in the western suburbs, who have reportedly fled after the encounter.

Meanwhile, the Kashimira police have discovered Babu’s hideout in Diva. Searches were on to check if he had hidden some more fake currency or firearms over there. Babu was staying in a flat as a paying guest and the police are trying find out as to who had recommended him to the owner of the house. The police said that they have informed their counterparts in Kolkata to collect information on Babu and Mandal’s connections.

KASHIMIRA ENCOUNTER
Abdar Ali Mandal, who was nabbed in West Bengal, had supplied fake currency amounting to Rs 10 lakh to one of the slain suspects, Mohammed Ali, to circulate in Mumbai. Ali had come to deliver the currency and 2 kg RDX to one Babu when both were shot down

The Times of India, March 21, 2008

Online air ticket fraud: ATS clueless about real culprits

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: The anti-terrorism squad (ATS), which arrested eight persons in connection with an online air ticketing fraud, is yet to establish the identity of the Kazakhstan-based accused who allegedly provided credit card numbers to those arrested.

The squad, even after keeping the accused in custody for over one-and-a-half months, is yet to find out how many air tickets were booked through the internet. Moreover, since no one has lodged a complaint, the officials do not know who the victims of the fraud were. A constable himself became the complainant in the case.

The prime job of the ATS is to detect terrorism-related cases and seize narcotics and fake currency. However, this is the first time that the squad is busy probing a cyber crime.

Interestingly, the cyber crime investigation cell (CCIC) of the city crime branch is unaware of this case. In 2007, the CCIC had helped the Economic Offences Wing detect an online ticketing racket by tracing the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the accused. Generally, cases related to credit card fraud and computer are dealt by police stations with assistance from the CCIC.

This case dates back to January 3 when the ATS picked up Sameer Ansari from Dongri and seized fake Indian currency from him. Later, Ashraf Siddiqui alias Captain Ashraf and six others were also arrested. Ansari was also booked for storing obscene clippings in his mobile. The ATS officials said the accused had procured national and international credit card details belonging to foreign nationals from Alu, a Kazakhstan national, and booked flight tickets. The tickets were later sold at a cheaper rate. The squad, however, does not know the exact money involved in the fraud. According to the police, a file called F K Air—found in the message box of Ansari’s mobile, contained the PNR number of air tickets.

“The accused would contact Alu through his emails—lobzine@mail.ru and marketusa@gmail.com—to get details of the credit cards. They had used 15 Master cards and 30 Visa International cards. However, we are yet to find out the details of the victims who suffered loss in the last one year. We are also analysing Ansari’s 12 email IDs. We have written to several Visa and Master card companies to ask about these credit cards but no one has replied yet,’’ said an officer.

The airlines whose tickets were booked include Air India, Jazeera airline, Deccan airlines, Cathay Pacific and Al-Arabia. The accused would send money to Kazakhstan via Dubai through Western Union, the police claimed, adding that they have no record of it.

The ATS seized 10 mobiles, 10 SIM cards, two IBM and a Lenovo laptop, debit and credit cards of HDFC, HSBC and Citybank, and UTI, ICICI bank’s HP Visa card, HDFC bank’s Easy shop debit card, international debit cards, three PAN cards, identity cards as field officer of T & T company, Rs 24,000 and fake currency with the face value Rs 20,000. Moreover, the police claimed to have seized a MoserBaer CD containing clippings of WTC 9/11 attack, bomb blasts and war.

The Times of India, February 25, 2008

Maoist menace : Urban scare

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
MUMBAI: The Maoist menace is no longer confined to the jungles. Last year, India’s financial capital got a Naxal scare. With the arrest of a few activists in August, the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) of Maharashtra police claimed to have busted a Maoist think tank, which was trying to indoctrinate and recruit people, and collecting funds for the organisation. Police believe that the Maoists are slowly and quietly making a base in the city. The police also suspect that the rebels might have some dangerous plans for the city. These fears stem from the fact that during the arrests of the suspected Maoists last year, the police recovered some detonators, a hand grenade, two firearms and 20 gelatin sticks.

According to police sources, Maoists have also articulated a new strategy to target urban centres in India, drawing up “guidelines for working in towns and cities”, and for the revival of a mobilisation effort targeting students and the urban unemployed. In 2006, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the Lok Sabha that Maoists were planning to target important installations in major cities, including Mumbai.

But, there is no immediate threat. “There is no armed activity in Mumbai at the moment and the Maoists have kept their activities limited to propagating their ideology, setting up secret cells for frontal organisations and recruiting people,’’ says a police sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The Maoists are trying to spread their movement among trade and labour unions, poor people and students. According to police sources, there are some 75 Maoists in Mumbai. Most of them are not active members of the banned CPI (Maoist), but they sympathise with the leftist group’s cause. “We have come across several such people and are in the process of identifying them and preparing dossiers on them,” says an officer involved in the investigation.

The police believe that the Maoists come to Mumbai to regroup. “They are using Mumbai as a place of rest, planning and recruitment. The guerrillas who get injured in encounters with the police are sent to Naxal dens in Mumbai for treatment, education and relaxation,” says the officer.

Apprehending a major problem cropping up sometime soon, the ATS is getting inputs from the Special Branch and the State Intelligence Department (SID) about the Maoists and keeping an eye on some people. “Over half a dozen lawyers are on our radar but we cannot arrest them if there is no evidence against them,” says an ATS officer.

While Mumbai may be safe for the moment, sources claim that the Maoists definitely have plans to take their war to other urban centres. The rebels, the sources add, have plans to strike in the industrial belts of Bhilai-Ranchi-Dhanbad-Calcutta and Mumbai-Pune-Surat-Ahmedabad to take their battle into the heart of India.

mateen.hafeez@timesgroup.com

The Times of India, February 17, 2008

Victims steer clear of FIRs for fear of publicity

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: A few months ago, the cyber crime investigation cell (CCIC) of the crime branch received a complaint from the director of a private firm stating that a 62-year-old man, who had retired from the armed forces, had clicked photographs of her in a compromising position and sent it to her husband and relatives via email.

The 47-year-old victim, a resident of Walkeshwar in south Mumbai, had befriended the man in the course of her work and the relationship had got physical. Over the last five years, without her knowledge, the accused had taken photographs of her in a compromising position with him. He had emailed them to her family to spite her when he found out she was travelling abroad with a few male colleagues. The only hitch was she was not ready to lodge an FIR as she feared that the case would attract publicity.

“This is why the accused in most web crimes get away.. The victims, mostly women and girls, are reluctant to file an official complaint fearing a lot of media attention. They do not want to get entangled in court procedures either,’’ said an officer from the cell.

In most such cases, the victims approach the police in order to verify or trace the identity of the person responsible for putting out the email or other offensive material on the internet. In the last one year alone, CCIC has received at least 15 informal complaints where obscene profiles, photos and addresses of young women and teenagers have been posted on networking sites on the internet.

The victims have approached the police after receiving calls from unknown people asking for sexual favours. Despite the lack of a formal complaint, the CCIC has sought to trace the identity of the culprit in some cases. In others, they have merely advised the victims to lodge an FIR in order to press charges.

“Investigations show that in 70% cases, the accused are known to the victims,’’ said an officer. Police said very often, photographs and other personal details are exchanged during the good times in a relationship. But when it deteriorates, those jilted try to retaliate using the net as a tool. “Earlier we would find the involvement of youngsters. Now a days even older people are involved in such crimes,’’ an officer said.

On receiving a complaint, the CCIC usually checks the Header of the email to trace the Internet Protocol (IP) address. The IP address number, if put in the search column of a website, whoisdomaintools.com, reveals the identity of the Internet Service Provider (ISP). Subsequently, a letter is sent to the concerned ISP asking for details on the person who held the IP address. The details, if available, helps the cyber police to nab the accused.

Similarly, for malicious scraps about individuals posted on social networking sites, a request is sent to the concerned ISP. If the ISP is based abroad, the CCIC sends a request through a ‘letter rogatory’ which has to spell out case details in 45-50 pages. The request is then filed through Interpol.

For blocking a website in India, the CCIC has to approach the Computer Emergency Response Team which comes under the ministry of Information and Technology.

CYBER CRIMES IN MUMBAI
A group of students, all girls, from the psychology department of Mumbai University, approached the CCIC in 2005, complaining that they had received morphed photographs on email showing one of their classmates naked. Police found one of the girls had broken off with her boyfriend recently. But as it transpired, she created an email ID in the name of her boyfriend’s cousin, who lived in Dubai, and forwarded the photos herself to the boyfriend and all her classmates to gain sympathy from him and her friends. No FIR was filed.

A software engineer, who wanted to marry an ex-classmate, learnt that she was getting married and began sending abusive and vulgar emails to the girl and her fiance. The girl, who was working with a security agency, then approached the CCIC. Investigators zeroed in on the culprit and when the girl found out who the culprit was, she was shocked, but she refused to file an FIR.

A former student of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, now employed with a leading media house, started receiving obscene emails soon after she sent out invites for her wedding to all her friends. The mails were traced to a former classmate.

The Times of India, January 24, 2008

THE LOG ARM OF THE LAW

Cyber Cops Ready To Click

Maharashtra Is Poised To Take The Battle Against Increasing E-Crime To The Next Level With A Hi-Tech Police Station

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: The Maharashtra police hope to give a major boost to the InfoTech and callcentre industries in the region as well as improve cyber-crime detection by opening a state-ofthe art Cyber Crime Police Station within a fortnight.

Maharashtra’s first, fullfledged, dedicated Cyber Crime Police Station will start functioning on the first floor of the Bandra-Kurla Complex Police Station in Bandra (East).

Unlike the current Cyber Crime Investigation Cell (CCIC) of the Mumbai police, which has jurisdiction only in the city, the new police station will have statewide jurisdiction. It will also have the power to register FIRs and make arrests, powers that the CCIC do not have.

The 18-member CCIC will be absorbed into the 61-strong police station. While all 84 police stations in the city report to the joint commissioner of police (law and order), personnel from the new police station will report to the joint commissioner (crime).

Police officials said the new facility will help tackle ecrimes as also give a boost to the Business Process Outsourcing and call-centre industry in the region. The only other two dedicated cyber crime police stations in the country are in the Information Technology (IT) meccas of Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Police officials said the police station will be staffed with computer-literate graduates who have been trained in taking down FIRs. They will focus mainly on offences that can be registered under the IT Act, 2000—like money-laundering, hawala transactions and the online flesh trade.

The increasing number of cyber crimes has made it imperative for Maharashtra to get its own dedicated Cyber Crime Police Station, officials said. As technology improves, so do the tools used by criminals, they added.

“We are shifting equipment from the CCIC at Crawford Market to the BKC and the fullfledged cyber police station will become functional within 15 days with added features, advanced technology and improved software,’’ said joint commissioner of police (administration) Hemant Karkare.

The existing CCIC office will be converted into a branch office of the BKC Cyber Crime Police Station.

Karkare said that even if the accused and the victim in a cyber crime are not from Mumbai, but the service provider is from the city, the cyber police station will register the case.

“Rs 50 lakh has been given from the budget for the police modernisation plan to upgrade the cyber police station. Our computers will have anti-virus and anti-hacking software,’’ informed Karkare.
Last year, the Mumbai police had also begun compiling a list of all Internet Protocol addresses in the city. The police wrote to 10 Internet Service Providers asking for the physical address of each terminal served by them.

A senior police officer added that the creation of a cyber crime police station could also attract more IT companies to the region. IT companies are attracted to Bangalore and Hyderabad because the cities afford protection from cyber crime, he said. “Once the police station is started, MNCs may prefer to make Mumbai their base,’’ an officer said.

The BKC police station was constructed at a cost of Rs 3 crore as recently as 2002. It reportedly has good facilities and is said to be one of the city’s better-equipped police stations.

NETTING E-CRIMINALS
HACKING
Hacking has been widely defined in Section 66 of InfoTech (IT) Act
Culprits can be those who have intent to cause, or know that they are likely to cause, an offence
The victim can be “the public’’ or an individual person who has faced wrongful loss or damage of computer information and/or resources

The damage could be caused by destroying, deleting or altering information in a computer resource and/or diminishing its value or utility
Punishment is imprisonment of up to 3 years and/or a fine of up to Rs 2 lakh

OBSCENITY
Section 67 of the IT Act deals with the publishing of obscene electronic information
Victims include those harassed by vulgar e-mails or other computer messages and pictures
Pornographers can also face action under this section
Culprits are those who publish or transmit obscene information, or even cause such information to be published
The information is defined as “any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons’’
First conviction is imprisonment of up to 5 years and/or a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh
Second conviction is imprisonment of up to 10 years and/or a fine of up to Rs 2 lakh

COMPENSATION
Victims cannot get more than Rs 1 crore for damage to computers, computer systems and so on

The Times of India, January 16, 2008

An Unlocked CELL BEHIND Prison Walls

Every visit to Arthur Road Jail, India’s most sensitive lock-up, can be an adventure in itself

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

It was an eye camp for undertrials in the country’s most sensitive prison, Arthur Road Jail. Not exactly an eye-popping assignment, but a worthy excuse for the motley tribe of crime reporters to enter the highsecurity hub.

I walked past the main gate towards the smaller padlocked one where a pot-bellied constable with a walrus moustache asked, “Whom do you want to meet?’’ I flashed my press card and he ambled across to open the gate. “How many times a day do you unlock this gate?’’ I asked.

I don’t know if he was joking, but he tonelessly offered, “Around 500 times.’’ His colleague mechanically added, “Switch off your cellphone.’’ I promptly did so.

Blame it on my heightened consciousness in top-security settings or the eclectic nature of the inmates at Arthur Road Jail, but each visit there has been an adventure in itself. I bumped into a convict sweeping the courtyard. I asked him for directions to the eye camp, but he only glowered back. Then he discovered I was a reporter and a strange misery crossed his face: “Aap mera ek kaam kar denge kya ?’’ he pleaded. He wanted me to ask his relatives to come meet him. I asked, “Can’t you ask the jailer to call your relatives?’’ He simply scooted off.

At the hospital (which looked more like a dispensary), there was a long queue of undertrials in jeans, trousers, lungis, shorts and whathave-yous. I focused on a known face—a man in jeans and black Tshirt who was an accused in the 1993 serial blasts case. In his early 30s, he was always clean shaven, sported gelled hair, and wore neat footwear and ironed clothes. I killed the urge to ask Hazrat (as I call him) the secret of his natty appearance, and instead queried: “Do all these men have eye problems?’’ Hazrat, the cool bhai, answered: “Most have come to collect the free sunglasses.’’

He then introduced me to a “special’’ person. “Bhai, yeh newspaper se aaye hain,’’ he told a man in his early 50s. I recognised the salt-and-pepper-haired gent from his news photos. He was also an accused in the serial blasts case and had been deported from the UAE. Here’s a real bhai, I said to myself. Surrounded by half-a-dozen cronies, he looked at me sharply before unexpectedly asking, “Aren’t you the journalist who got bashed up by a gangster a few years ago?’’ I said “yes’’ and added that I had filed a police case. The bhai took out a madein-Yemen Rothmans and lit up. Half his cronies followed suit.

``Why don’t you write about the stinking toilets, broken rooms and stale food here?’’ he asked. Pointing to a police constable, he added, “These babas (constables) are corrupt. They provide everything if they are paid. I have told my men not to pay them a single paisa. If they ask for a bribe, I will talk to their bosses.’’

A famished-looking criminal, wearing a dirty, reeking T-shirt, stopped by to ask for a cigarette stub. “Take it and get lost,’’ one of the cronies growled. Dozens of other petty criminals watched the bhai’s battalion. One gathered the courage to say, “Bhai, we need your help to fight our legal cases. We are poor. We have been framed.’’

“I am not Haatim Tai to shower money on others. However, I will see what can be done about you,’’ the bhai replied and asked one of his men to collect the details. This was how gangsters enlisted men. Offer a small favour, forge a bond.

Hazrat brought me back to the real world. “Write about the doctors here,’’ he said. “We have two. One is a child specialist and the other has come from a post-mortem centre. They give the same medicines for everything, without listening to the patients’ problems properly.’’ It was apparent that Hazrat was using me to flaunt his ‘connections’ to the people around.

When the meeting ended, Hazrat asked to use my mobile phone. I tried to shake him off by saying, “My phone’s not working because of the mobile-jammer installed here.’’ But he persisted: “The jammer is of low quality and dysfunctional. It seems you don’t want to give me your mobile. It’s OK, but remember how D K Rao (a gangster) had used a phone and three SIM cards before the crime branch seized them?’’

Hazrat said he was writing a book on the jail. I wished him luck and left to get details for my story. After collecting information, I switched on my cell just for kicks. Within seconds, the metro editor called. “Do you have a story?’’ he asked. I don’t remember my answer. I was still digesting the fact that my cell phone was working inside Arthur Road Jail.

mateen.hafeez@timesgroup.com

(This is the 13th and the last in a series in which TOI reporters speak of an unforgettable experience during their assignments in the year that has just ended.)

The Times of India, January 6, 2008