Fears and vulnerabilities of people in the time of COVID-19 pandemic are increasingly being exploited by cyber criminals, officials from the Cyber Crime wing of the Maharashtra Police said. According to the Maharashtra Cyber – the Cyber Security and Cyber Crime wing of Maharashtra Police – a large number of social media posts, WhatsApp messages directing users to fraudulent links about COVID-19 and issues surrounding it have come to their notice. Maharashtra Cyber has issued detailed advisories about the use of social media, WhatsApp and also about fake news. Teams from Maharashtra Cyber and individual cyber units of police jurisdictions across Maharashtra are monitoring the social media and Internet activities.”In the lockdown period till date, a total of 218 cases have been registered regarding fake news, rumors and hate speech over social media in Maharashtra. Maharashtra Cyber has also observed a rising trend in hate speech cases and of the total 218 cases, 115 are about hate speech on social media platforms.

Source: Indian Express April 16, 2020 17:19 UTC