The online portals used for the sale and purchase of used products over the Internet, a means which has been developed to facilitate people, are being misused by some people to harass others.
The cyber crime cell of Chandigarh police has received few cases, where miscreants have posted fake advertisements of products without the permission of the real owner, quoting lower prices. The people who fall victim to such mischief, has tough time explaining the prospective buyers, over phone that the products are not for sale.
Victims of this kind of cyber offence are at times flooded with more than 300 calls in a single day, making it difficult for them to divulge explanation to every potential buyer.
In a recent incident, Gagan Jain, a resident of Sector 44, reported that someone has clicked the photograph of his golden-coloured, Maruti Alto K10 car, and uploaded it on an online shopping portal.
The 29-year-old businessman claimed that he is receiving almost 60 to 70 calls a day. Callers keep on inquiring about the condition of the car and haggles about its price. The callers unleashed a flood of queries over phone after they spotted the advertisement of a car being sold at dirt cheap price carrying Jain’s mobile
number.
Jain, on the other hand was taken aback by the incident, because he had no intentions of selling his car. However, when he checked the advertisement online he was rendered speechless and following the harassment, he reported the matter with
the police.
According to sources within the cyber cell, around three to four complaints are received from people facing harassment over fake advertisements. It should be noted that percentage of cases being reported is far less than actual incidents, as many victims turns a blind eye to such incidents, thinking it to be a prank, said police sources.
After receiving such complaints cyber cell sleuths send e-mails to the concerned online company or the website’s owners, demanding from them the Internet Protocol (IP) address, so as to get the actual address of the miscreant so that proper action could be taken against the perpetrator.
We keep on receiving such complaints but legal action is taken, only after verifying the IP address and properly investigating the matter, said sources in the cyber cell.