Kids playing online computer games open to risk of being blackmailed, warns MOI

The Criminal Investigation Department at the Ministry of Interior has advised parents to keep an eye on children while they play online video games as leaving them unattended might expose them to cyber criminals.

Capt. Engineer Mudawi Saeed Al Qahtani, Head of the Economic and Electronic Crimes Section said innocent children may reveal personal and sensitive information unknowingly to cyber criminals which may put their life to danger.

“The problem of new e-games or computer games is that these games ask many personal information. After accessing personal information, anonymous groups and persons blackmail children by threatening them. This may force a child to commit a crime,” Al Qahtani was quoted as saying by The Peninsula.

The modes of cyber crimes are constantly changing with the advancement of technology and cyber-criminals are continuously changing their modus operandi.

“E-crimes against children is among the new crimes, and most of the countries suffering from these crimes are of East Asia, Europe and America. In Qatar, because of our tradition and religion, parents monitor their children which helps in very low impact of such crime. But now e-crimes against children are spreading in the country,” he said.

Regarding a question about precautionary measures, he said: “The Interpol sends a list of games which are classified as dangerous to members countries and countries take precautionary measures in this regard.”

“For example, in Qatar, the Ministry of Transport and Communications is monitoring the sites and conducts preventive procedures and bans some sites,” Capt. Al Qahtani said.