Police handle 3,800 e-crimes last year

AMMAN — The Public Security Department’s (PSD) anti-cybercrime unit in 2016 dealt with 3,800 crimes, 2,250 of which were referred to court. 

Major Raed Rawashdeh, head of the investigation and technical follow-up at the unit, delivered a lecture at the Jordan News Agency, Petra, during which he noted that the cases included electronic blackmail, website hacking, stealing electronic data and defamation, Petra reported. 

The unit’s work is mainly focused on sexual abuse of children, electronic recruitment for terrorist organisations and hate speech, Rawashdeh added.

He warned against using social media outlets to spread hatred speech, stressing that the unit’s agents fight such speech on the Internet as stipulated in the Cybercrime Law, which was enacted after the country recorded a high Internet penetration, which reached 76 per cent by the end of march last year, and was expected to rise dramatically with the rise in mobile penetration. 

The officer called on parents to supervise their children when going online to protect them against sexual exploitation and terrorist recruitment, which “exclude none”.