Crime: anything that is illegal and not acceptable in the society would come under this category. The very in thing is social media. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are just the most hot and happening ones. But there are many others. Cybercrime is the new trend, in today’s digital world and is majorly committed by the current youth. The hunger to become popular, get more likes and comments and to have a chain of fan following.
Sadly the present younger generation have these hollow and meaningless insecurities. Some have hundreds or thousands of friends and followers spread across multiple profiles. They are willing to cross any limits to quench their thirst for popularity.
Sitting on the other side of the computer, it is difficult to prove who is genuine and who is fake, if you don’t know the person from your real connections.
Some of the common crimes committed on social media are bullying, hacking, stalking, attractive vacation robberies, fake profiles, false friendships, these are just to name a few. One among all these is photo crime, like morphed photographs.
Which is mainly done with the intention of hiding one’s true identity or to trap innocent people for harmful activities and harassments.
No doubt social media is an extremely tempting digitally created world, having a magnetic pull of it’s own. And it is very easy to get carried away and fall into deep trouble. Nonetheless if there are problems, then they have solutions as well. Ironically, the answers are in our own hands. Here are a few helpful guidelines.
1. First and foremost, have the habit of verifying. Dig in a little more, get information of who, where, why and only if you are satisfied, go ahead.
2. Block your profile from public searches.
3. Restrict to who can find you via online search. Keep the privacy settings of your social media profile at the most restricted levels, especially for public.
4. Limit what people can learn about you through searching on net.
5. Beware, don’t add anybody and everybody to your list of friends.
6. Same goes to not accepting friend request from any Tom, Dick and Harry, if you don’t know them personally.
7. Don’t click on suspicious links or
8. Leak out your social media credentials.
Just think, in real life, if you are walking on the road, and if a stranger comes to you, asking for your details, will you happily go ahead and give it to him? Definitely not. So similarly. Keep in mind, in spite of all the precautions if you ever become a victim of cybercrime, you can always go to the police and lodge a complaint.
Social media sites are mammoth networks to reach out to uncountable people at one go. Moreover they can prove very beneficial if used wisely. Like for a good cause, to spread awareness, or for business expansions. But at the same time, it is exceedingly hyped and illusionary.
The best way to discourage cybercrime is not to fall for attractive strangers. Be happy with your trusted and reliable friends, even if they are few.
