By Fahad Al Ghadani — MUSCAT: May 7 - The Royal Oman Police (ROP) has warned the public against sharing personal information and photographs on social media since it is fraught with a risk of electronic blackmail.
The warning comes after a recent incident of cyber blackmail which ended in a murder.
An Omani woman stabbed a 23-year-old man to death after he allegedly blackmailed her.
He had threatened to circulate her photos on the social media.
“This (the warning) is part of our campaign to educate the public. Many have fallen victim after sharing their personal information,” a reliable source at the ROP told the Observer.
He said many innocent people have become victims of such blackmail. “Predators can take different shapes.
The solution is to avoid sharing personal information on the social media,” said the source.
“It’s not just about blackmail,” he said. “Sharing personal information on the social media could get people implicated in theft cases,” the officer said.
“Those pretending to be famous personalities are posing risk to society. Such impersonators, in the guise of backing a charity, can easily convince their potential victims into funding it,” said the officer.
An earlier investigation carried by the Observer has shown that cyber criminals are increasingly targeting vulnerable Omani women when they go online in search of employment opportunities.
The probe has unearthed instances of some women falling victim to online predators, with at least one of them becoming a target of blackmail. More than 330 cases of e-blackmail were registered in 2016, according to Oman National Computer Emergency Readiness Team.
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