Cybercrime offenders to be hauled before Courts soon – Crime Chief

The Guyana Police Force’s (GPF’s) Cyber Crime Unit is currently investigating a several cases which include illegal activities such as the hacking of financial accounts and transferring of monies into fake accounts, fake Facebook profiles involved in threats, and sharing of nude photographs without permission.
This is according to Deputy Police Commissioner, Lyndon Alves, who bears the responsibility for law enforcement in the GPF.
In an exclusive interview with the Guyana Times the crime chief explained that at present the Cyber Crime Unit is coming close to closing some cases where persons’ private nude photographs were disseminated via whatsapp, Facebook, and other forms of internet communication channels.
“Doing that is an offense and if someone sends you a nude picture, and you decide to share with others and they share too, all of you will be charged simply because that is an offense. You are not supposed to be sharing any such private photo that may have been sent to you, once you do that you will be charged, and if the persons you send to do the same, they will also face the consequences. This Unit is looking at all cases involving internet related crimes or offences,” the Deputy Commissioner explained.
He alluded to the fact, that quite soon, the Unit is expected to be closing some of these cases and persons will have to be hauled before the Courts to answer for their crimes.
According to Alves, another case which the Cyber Crime Unit is currently investigating is that of the cyberattack on the Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL’s) computerised systems that occurred in February last.
The attack on the corporation took place on February 6, 2019 about 04:21hrs where the perpetrator(s) of this act requested a ransom of bitcoins (digital money) to remove all encryptions from within the network.
In a release sent by the company shortly after the attack, the GPL said it has not heeded to, and will not heed to, any such ransom.
“It is therefore fitting to advise and encourage all local companies with computerized systems to review their existing cyber security systems and disaster recovery plans as well,” the statement urged.
Cybercrime is a subset of CyberSecurity, they differ from traditional security and criminal activities, and require completely different responses and investigations. (Kristen Macklingam)