The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested more than 35 men working in mobile sales and service shops for blackmailing customers, especially women,

Those arrested include Arabs and Asians, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) yesterday.

The accused used to copy private photographs and videos saved in customers’ phones without their knowledge and used the same to blackmail them.

The CID received information about some men obtaining personal images and files from the mobile phones of citizens and residents, especially women, and then trying to extort huge sums from them by threatening to release the photographs on social networking sites.

Through an electronic search and investigation procedure, the Cyber Crime Combating Centre of the CID ascertained that the offenders were working in mobile service centres. Accordingly, CID personnel raided a number of mobile shops and checked the electronic devices, including laptops, found there.

On finding several photographs of citizens and residents, the CID arrested more than 35 people from among the suspects and seized their devices. The accused confessed during interrogation that they copied images and data stored in the phones of customers, particularly women, who had given their handsets for maintenance.

The MoI has called upon citizens and residents to exercise caution when dealing with mobile shops, advising them not to keep pictures, videos and personal data in their mobile phones while giving them for maintenance.

In the statement, the ministry has also urged people not to download any applications through shops, especially programmes like iCloud, which allow service personnel to share and access data on the phones as personal e-mail IDs are given for downloading purposes through which they can access the data saved in those handsets.

Copying images from others’ mobile devices without their permission is a punishable crime, the statement notes.

 

 

 

 

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