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CYBER CRIME IN BANGLADESH

Abstraction:
Todays in techno-savvy environment, the world is becoming more and more digitally
sophisticated. Internet was initially developed as a research and information sharing tool and was
in an unregulated manner. As the time passed by it became more transactional with e-business, ecommerce-governance and e-procurement etc. All legal issues related to internet crime are dealt
with through cyber laws. As the number of internet users is on the rise, the need for cyber laws
and their application has also gathered great momentum. In this research paper introduction
about various cyber-crimes, their classifications, ICT-Act of Bangladesh and the methods to
register the complaints has been included for the effective implementation of cyber laws in
Bangladesh and to aware the common men to register their complaints when they suffered any
cyber-crime.

Introduction:
Day by day the use of computer is increasingly & more users are connecting to the internet. So
the crimes are also increasing. But mostly peoples are unaware about cyber-crimes. Although the
term cybercrime is usually restricted to describing criminal activity in which the computer or
network is an essential part of the crime. Cyber Crimes are defined as: "Offences that are
committed against individuals or groups of individuals with a criminal motive to intentionally
harm the reputation of the victim or cause physical or mental harm to the victim directly or
indirectly, using modern telecommunication networks such as Internet (Chat rooms, emails,)

and mobile phones (SMS/MMS)".Such new crimes devoted to the Internet are email
phishing, hijacking domain names, virus imitation, and cyber vandalism.

Classifications of cyber-crimes:
Cyber Crimes which are growing day by day, it is very difficult to find out what is
actually a cyber-crime and what is the conventional crime so to come out of this
confusion, cyber-crimes can be classified under different categories which are as follows:

i.

Cyber-crimes against Persons:

Harassment via E-Mails: It is very common type of harassment through sending
letters, attachments of files & folders i.e. via e-mails. At present harassment is
common as usage of social sites i.e. Facebook, Twitter etc. increasing day by day.
Cyber-Stalking: It means expressed or implied a physical threat that creates fear
through the use to computer technology such as internet, e-mail, phones, text
messages, webcam, websites or videos.

CYBER CRIME IN BANGLADESH (AIUB-2015)

Dissemination of Obscene Material: It includes Indecent exposure/Pornography

(basically child pornography), hosting of web site containing these prohibited
materials. These obscene matters may cause harm to the mind of the adolescent
and tend to deprave or corrupt their mind.
Defamation: It is an act of imputing any person with intent to lower down the
dignity of the person by hacking his mail account and sending some mails with
using vulgar language to unknown persons mail account.
Hacking: It means unauthorized control/access over computer system and act of
hacking completely destroys the whole data as well as computer programmers.
Hackers usually hacks telecommunication and mobile network.
Cracking: It is amongst the gravest cyber-crimes known till date. It is a dreadful
feeling to know that a stranger has broken into your computer systems without
your knowledge and consent and has tampered with precious confidential data and
information.
E-Mail Spoofing: A spoofed e-mail may be said to be one, which misrepresents
its origin. It shows its origin to be different from which actually it originates.
SMS Spoofing: Spoofing is a blocking through spam which means the unwanted
uninvited messages. Here an offender steals identity of another in the form of
mobile phone number and sending SMS via internet and receiver gets the SMS
from the mobile phone number of the victim. It is very serious cyber-crime against
any individual.
Carding: It means false ATM cards i.e. Debit and Credit cards used by criminals
for their monetary benefits through withdrawing money from the victims bank
account mala-fiddly. There is always unauthorized use of ATM cards in this type
of cyber-crimes.
Cheating & Fraud: It means the person who is doing the act of cyber-crime i.e.
stealing password and data storage has done it with having guilty mind which
leads to fraud and cheating.
Child Pornography: It involves the use of computer networks to create,
distribute, or access materials that sexually exploit underage children.
Assault by Threat: refers to threatening a person with fear for their lives or lives
of their families through the use of a computer network i.e. E-mail, videos or
phones.
ii.

Cyber-crimes against persons/property: As there is rapid growth in the

international trade where businesses and consumers are increasingly using
computers to create, transmit and to store information in the electronic form
instead of traditional paper documents. There are certain offences which affects
persons property which are as follows:
Intellectual Property Crimes: Intellectual property consists of a bundle of rights.
Any unlawful act by which the owner is deprived completely or partially of his
rights is an offence. The common form of IPR violation may be said to be software

CYBER CRIME IN BANGLADESH (AIUB-2015)

iii.

piracy, infringement of copyright, trademark, patents, designs and service mark

violation, theft of computer source code, etc.
Cyber Squatting: It means where two persons claim for the same Domain Name
either by claiming that they had registered the name first on by right of using it
before the other or using something similar to that previously. For example two
similar names i.e. www.yahoo.com and www.yaahoo.com.
Cyber Vandalism: Vandalism means deliberately destroying or damaging
property of another. Thus cyber vandalism means destroying or damaging the data
when a network service is stopped or disrupted. It may include within its purview
any kind of physical harm done to the computer of any person. These acts may
take the form of the theft of a computer, some part of a computer or a peripheral
attached to the computer.
Hacking Computer System: Hacktivism attacks those included Famous Twitter,
blogging platform by unauthorized access/control over the computer. Due to the
hacking activity there will be loss of data as well as computer. Also research
especially indicates that those attacks were not mainly intended for financial gain
too and to diminish the reputation of particular person or company.
Transmitting Virus: Viruses are programs that attach themselves to a computer or
a file and then circulate themselves to other files and to other computers on a
network. They usually affect the data on a computer, either by altering or deleting
it. Worm attacks plays major role in affecting the computerize system of the
individuals.
Cyber Trespass: It means to access someones computer without the right
authorization of the owner and does not disturb, alter, misuse, or damage data or
system by using wireless internet connection.
Internet Time Thefts: Basically, Internet time theft comes under hacking. It is the
use by an unauthorized person, of the Internet hours paid for by another person.
The person who gets access to someone elses ISP user ID and password, either by
hacking or by gaining access to it by illegal means, uses it to access the Internet
without the other persons knowledge. You can identify time theft if your Internet
time has to be recharged often, despite infrequent usage.

Cyber-crimes against government: There are certain offences done by group of

persons intending to threaten the international governments by using internet
facilities. It includes:
Cyber Terrorism: Cyber terrorism is a major burning issue in the domestic as
well as global concern. The common form of these terrorist attacks on the Internet
is by distributed denial of service attacks, hate websites and hate e-mails, attacks
on sensitive computer networks etc. Cyber terrorism activities endanger the
sovereignty and integrity of the nation.
Cyber Warfare: It refers to politically motivated hacking to conduct sabotage and
espionage. It is a form of information warfare sometimes seen as analogous to

CYBER CRIME IN BANGLADESH (AIUB-2015)

conventional warfare although this analogy is controversial for both its accuracy
and its political motivation.
Distribution of pirated software: It means distributing pirated software from one
computer to another intending to destroy the data and official records of the
government.
Possession of Unauthorized Information: It is very easy to access any
information by the terrorists with the aid of internet and to possess that
information for political, religious, social, ideological objectives.
iv.

Cyber-crimes against society: An unlawful act done with the intention of causing
harm to the cyberspace will affect large number of persons. These offences
includes:
Child Pornography: It involves the use of computer networks to create,
distribute, or access materials that sexually exploit underage children. It also
includes activities concerning indecent exposure and obscenity.
Cyber Trafficking: It may be trafficking in drugs, human beings, arms weapons
etc. which affects large number of persons. Trafficking in the cyberspace is also a
gravest crime.
Online Gambling: Online fraud and cheating is one of the most lucrative
businesses that are growing today in the cyber space. There are many cases that
have come to light are those pertaining to credit card crimes, contractual crimes,
offering jobs, etc.
Financial Crimes: This type of offence is common as there is rapid growth in the
users of networking sites and phone networking where culprit will try to attack by
sending bogus mails or messages through internet. Ex: Using credit cards by
obtaining password illegally.
Forgery: It means to deceive large number of persons by sending threatening
mails as online business transactions are becoming the habitual need of todays life
style.

Importance of Cyber Law & Awareness:

Information technology has spread throughout the world. The computer is used in each
and every sector wherein cyberspace provides equal opportunities to all for economic
growth and human development. As the user of cyberspace grows increasingly diverse
and the range of online interaction expands, there is expansion in the cyber-crimes i.e.
breach of online contracts, perpetration of online torts and crimes etc. Due to these
consequences there was need to adopt a strict law by the cyber space authority to regulate
criminal activities relating to cyber and to provide better administration of justice to the
victim of cyber-crime. In the modern cyber technology world it is very much necessary to
regulate cyber-crimes and most importantly cyber law should be made stricter in the case

CYBER CRIME IN BANGLADESH (AIUB-2015)

of cyber terrorism and hackers. Mostly peoples dont know about cyber-crime/cyber
laws. So todays need to aware the society about cyber-crimes and cyber laws.

Cyber-crimes scenarios in BANGLADESH:

Malicious Mail to Foreign Diplomatic Mission and Other VIPs
Pornography

Use of e-mail for illegal activities

Use of Internet for transmitting false and malicious information
Use of Internet for Prostitution
Use of Internet for Women & Child Trafficking

Case study of Cyber Crime in Bangladesh:

Bangladesh does not have enough natural resources and has been trying to achieve the economic
development through the utilization of ICT industry. Over the last few years, many nations have
taken advantage of the opportunities afforded by ICT within a policy framework, laid down
guidelines and preceded with the formulation of a national ICT strategy as a part of the overall
national development plan. Bangladesh intends to use ICT as the key-driving element for socioeconomic development. The present government has also declared the vision-2021 i.e. within
2021 this country will become Digital Country and the per capita income will be equal to a
middle income country. But the government as well as other concerns should consider crimes
that may be committed in this world with the expansion of internet and other networks to convert
this country into a digital country.
The most common cyber-attacks and crimes are listed below in Bangladesh:
1. Blackmailing girl by capturing their nude photographs and video on the sly and threatening to
expose publicly. Such incidents are caused frequently by their boyfriends and others.
2. A number of community websites have been introduced, which the young girls and boys are
using to exchange phone numbers for Posting hidden videos or even pictures with nudity etc.
3. Hacking in the website of Bangladesh Computer Society, which took place after a few days of
a 3 day-long Regional Seminar on Cyber Crime in Dhaka.
4. E-mail threatening the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from a cyber cafe.10
5. Hacking into the Internet account of Barisal DC office in 2003 AD, the incident was revealed
after the DC office received a heavily bloated Internet bill and lodged a complaint with the
Bangladesh Tar and Telephone Board (BTTB).
6. Hacking took place in the website of Bangladesh Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in 2008,
during the access to www.rab.gov.bd, the website read: "Hacked by Shahee_Mirza.
7. Hacking the mail of BRAC Bangladesh
8. Stealing the transaction report of Dhaka Stock Exchange through hacking.

CYBER CRIME IN BANGLADESH (AIUB-2015)

ICT-ACT of BANGLADESH:
ICT-Act of BANGLADESH is as follows:
Eliminates barriers to e-commerce,
Promotes legal and business infrastructures to secure e-transactions,
Facilitates electronic filing in government agencies and
Ensures efficient delivery of electronic records from government offices
Help maintain the latest technology by freeing it from nuisance as punitive provisions
Publishing obscene or defamatory information in electronic form
The law ensures five years imprisonment and a fine of up to Taka 5 core for offenders for
the first conviction and that could be extended to 10 years imprisonment and Taka 10
core as fine for each subsequent offence of the same nature.
Powers of Police Officers and Other Officers
Establishment of Cyber Appellate Tribunal

Other Acts to add ICT-Act BANGLADESH:

Recently E-Commerce in Bangladesh has been experiencing very good growth thanks to the
steady economic growth of the country, but this e-commerce is not under any regulations of the
Government, as a result crimes relating to e commerce have been rising such as Debit and Credit
Card Related frauds, cheating with the consumers etc. etc. think to facilitate e-commerce sector,
It must be brought under regulation.
Social Networking has also gained huge popularity in BD. Recently the Govt. has taken
initiatives to ensure safe social networking experience for the users but that's not enough to deal
with growing number of social networking sites related crimes, the govt. must work hard to
ensure safe social networking experience.

Cyber Law in other countries:

To meet the challenge posed by new kinds of crime made possible by computer technology
including telecommunication, many countries have also reviewed their respective domestic
criminal laws so as to prevent computer related crimes. Some of these countries are USA,
Austria, Denmark, France Germany, Greece, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Sweden, Switzerland,
Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Spain, Portugal, UK, Malaysia and Singapore. However, no
country has fully resolved all the issues such as legal, enforcement and prevention of crime. The
legislations enacted by different countries cover only few of the classified computer related
offences. However, looking to the dynamic and fast changing technology, new types of offences
CYBER CRIME IN BANGLADESH (AIUB-2015)

may pop-up frequently. Some of the major types of offences against which many countries across
the globe have enacted various Acts (mostly at preliminary levels) are as follows: 1. Unlawful access to data in computers,
2. Damaging data in computer etc.
3. Possession of device to obtain unauthorized telephone facilities,
4. Unauthorized access to computer and computer material
5. Committing mischief with data.
6. Data spying,
7. Computer fraud,
8. Forgery of prohibitive data,
9. Alteration of data,
10. Computer sabotage.
11. False entry in an authentic deed
12. False entry in permit license or passport
13. Electronic record made wrongfully
14. Electronic record made wrongfully by public servant
15. Interferences with business by destruction or damage of computer
16. Interferences with computer
17. Destruction of public document
18. Destruction of private document
19. Unauthorized access with intention to commit offences/ computer crimes
20. Unauthorized use and interception of computer services
21. Knowingly access of computer without authorization related to national defense or foreign
relation
22. Intentional access of computer without authorization to obtain financial information
23. Unauthorized access of computer of a Govt. Dept. Or agency
24. Knowingly causing transmission of data/program to damage a computer network, data or
program or withhold or deny use of computer, network etc.
25. Knowingly causing transmission of data/program with risk that transmission will damage a
computer network, data or program or withhold or deny use of computer, network etc., and an
unauthorized access of computer with intent to defraud.

Interview of some Law related person:

I took an interview of LLM student. He said that they were taught Cyber Laws when they were
LL.B Part-II, there was a course titled "Cyber and Telecommunication Laws of Bangladesh.
As a law student he thinks our ICT act must cover various cyber-crimes. Our present law is
insufficient to try e-commerce related crimes. Countrys e-commerce sector has been
experiencing double digit growth in recent years and people are very interested to use ecommerce, tougher law is needed to tackle e-commerce related crimes.
I also contacted with a lawyer from Kolkata and he said that the world has witnessed a cyberboom over the past few decades. Today internet connectivity binds the entire universe under one
roof. From USA to India, from Bangladesh to Bahrain cyber technology has globalized the entire
world into one community. Staying in UK one can keep track of what all that is going in
Bangladesh or even Asia on a broader context, one can even carry out online transactions over
CYBER CRIME IN BANGLADESH (AIUB-2015)

the web to multifarious channels to any part of the world just with a click of the mouse. Cyber
culture has made our lives that easy. But with the growth of technology come its loopholes and
the loopholes lead way to various cyber-crimes. If we trace the nature and trend of cyber-crimes
in Asia, we see that year ago, cyber threats came from virus, malware and relatively
unsophisticated hacking. Over time, however, the techniques of hacking have become more
complex for instance, cyber terrorism, and identity theft, phishing, and e-commerce fraud.
Mobile devices and cloud computing present new data security exposures. News has it that In the
first eight months of 2013, more than 20,000 China-based websites were hacked, and more than
eight million servers hijacked by Zombie and Trojan programs controlled from overseas.
According to the Norton report, Indian citizens and corporations lost Rs 50,400 core to cyber
fraud in 2012. The report also said that 63% of smart phone users in the country have
experienced some form of mobile cybercrime in the 12 months preceding the reports release.
These are just a few instances. Covering up all instances would render the list endless.
With the growth of cyber-crimes all over Asia, the enforcement of comprehensive and state of
the art cyber data protection technologies has become the need of the hour. Cyber-crimes are
punishable in most countries worldwide. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced in February
2014 that he will spearhead the fight against cybercrime by putting himself in charge of a newly
formed body to coordinate cyber security. This new body will draft policy for boosting the
countrys defense against cybercrime
as well as expanding and improving Internet access. Meanwhile In 2013, the Indian government
went one step further by announcing a National Cyber Security Policy aimed at setting up an
agency to protect the public and private infrastructures from cyber-attacks and safeguarding the
personal information of web users, financial and banking information, and sovereign data. In
another instance the Japanese Government as of March 2014, the has been considering a new law
granting the National Information Security Centre (NISC) and the Government Security
Operation Coordination team (GSOC) with powers to cut through bureaucracy when dealing
with cyber threats. All that said the need for spreading the necessity of cyber protection on a
continental basis is extremely inevitable. The SAARC has realized the importance of spreading
cyber security awareness and the 18th SAARC Summit agreed to establish a cyber-crime
monitoring desk. However, hard and fast measures yet need to be implemented on an urgent
basis so as to combat cyber-crimes on a broader scale.

Conclusion:
The conclusion may, therefore, be drawn that computer-related crime is a real, (at least in respect
of certain offences) expanding phenomenon. Furthermore, a steady increase in number of such
crimes in this area is expected which demands for greater attention of lawmakers. Let's now once
again review the alternatives available for establishing a comprehensive legal framework. Can
we make only territorial laws applicable to online activities that have no relevant or perhaps even
determinable geographic location? It seems to be very difficult. We must also allow responsible
participants on the Internet to set their own rules and to help all concerned (online and offline).
The law of the Internet has already emerged, and we believe can continue to emerge with
individual users voting to join the particular systems they find most congenial.
However, this model also does not solve all problems, and various governance issues cannot be
resolved overnight. We will need to redefine Cyber Legal processes in this new dynamic context.
Finally, the Cyber Law defined as a thoughtful group conversation about core values and distinct

CYBER CRIME IN BANGLADESH (AIUB-2015)

benefits to the Society will persist. But it will not, could not, and should not be the same law as
that applicable to physical, geographically defined territories.

Reference:

BANGLADESH Ministry of Science and Information & Communication Technology

BTRC
BANGLADESH Ministry of Law
AIUB Engineers Adda(Facebook Group)
Daffodil International University(online forum)
Indian IT LAW
Global Information Technology
Easttom C. (2010) Computer Crime Investigation and the Law
Fafinski, S. (2009) Computer Misuse: Response, regulation and the law Cullompton:
Willan.
Grabosky, P. (2006) Electronic Crime, New Jersey: Prentice Hall
Advocate Anish Mandal (Law Associate, H. Singh And Associates, Advocates, Kolkata,
India)
Md.Sadmanul Islam (Master Of Laws(LL.M)Student Department Of Law, University Of
Rajshahi, Bangladesh)

CYBER CRIME IN BANGLADESH (AIUB-2015)