With reference to your recent report on Goa's name being linked to a cybercrime network, I wish to highlight a specific pattern. Most of the cybercriminals apprehended in such cases appear to have their origins in Gujarat. Even in past cases when criminals were apprehended in Goa, they were from Gujarat. Thanks to such news reports I have become wary of who I give my villa on rent to. When it is a group of men with addresses from Gujarat, I now ask my broker for details of their employment. Today, becoming a target of cybercrime has become more frequent than being targeted by pickpockets. The most vulnerable are the elderly. Social media has been flooded with police reels from the USA showing money mules being caught and most of them have a Gujarat-India background. They are infamous for cybercrimes committed in the garb of Microsoft and Amazon support. It is good news that they are getting caught but we know little about the judicial follow-up. How many of these cases actually reach a verdict? Are they decided in a timely manner and what punishment is awarded to them? The public deserves to know.
ALWYN FERNANDES, Benaulim
