Man Held over Hacking into Women’s Computers

Amira Agarib

amira@khaleejtimes.com Filed on April 2, 2010

DUBAI — ‘If you want to view other people’s webcam pictures, click on this!’ With these words on a website he created, a 21-year-old Arab national managed to dupe young women to respond and hack into their computers and steal their photographs which he allegedly used to blackmail them later.

Major Saeed Al Hajiri, Director of the Electronic Crimes Department of Dubai Police, said on Tuesday that the police had been receiving complaints from women aged between 18 and 24 since January this year that their computers were hacked by an unknown person. The person had been threatening to circulate their photographs he got from their computers if they did not meet his demands which included sending him pictures of other women.

The police managed to track down the culprit and arrested him on March 23. He confessed to the crime and said he loved computers.

The police found that he was also wanted in similar cases in Sharjah and that he was released on bail in one of the cases.

Two computers found in his possession were seized and referred to the forensic laboratory of the police to get the copied information and pictures.

Al Hajri said the department has recorded 71 cyber crimes during the first quarter of the current year.

amira@khaleejtimes.com