Mediaboss Marketing

AHMEDABAD: Exercise caution when putting up personal information and expanding your friends' list on social media accounts. Cybercriminals thriving on social networking websites have been gleaning information about their potential victims, mostly men in their 40s, from Facebook and coaxing them to share their WhatsApp numbers so they can be lured into sextortion traps. Gujarat police have, since early 2021, identified 14,481 accounts on Facebook and Instagram that were used by gangs for sextortion purposes in the state. Between January 2022 and February 1 this year, 2,382 complaints pertaining to sextortion calls were registered on helpline '1930'. These complaints are just the tip of the iceberg. There were many more victims and only a few have approached the helpline," said a senior CID crime official who is part of the cybercrime cell.In February alone, CID crime had requested Meta, Facebook's parent company, to remove 773 accounts. Of these, Meta responded to 663 requests while requests for other accounts are still being studied.According to police sources, these gangs lift photos of women from social media and create fake profiles on Instagram and Facebook to lure men. "A striking feature about such fake profiles is that they all have only male followers. Our cybercrime prevention team at the CID has been monitoring these fraudulent accounts," says Manish Bhankharia, inspector, cyber forensics and prevention, CID crime.He added, "Men in their 40s are usually the soft targets of the sextortion gangs for two basic reasons. Firstly, most are married, and they fear being shamed in front of their family members or society. Secondly, it is assumed that they have a good amount of savings and can afford the extortion amount. We have been repeatedly advising people to stop responding to the extortion threats and the gang will stop pursuing you."Initially, when the CID officials tracked the numbers used for extortion purposes, they found the same IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number linked to about 200 sim cards. This means, 200 different sim cards were used by one mobile device to make extortion calls.The gangs, which typically belong to Mewat, Bharatpur and Alwar, usually look up the victim's Facebook friends' list and study his posts and the interactions that follow. "They study the accounts of men and their circle of friends. This enables them to blackmail the victims as the extortion will involve taking names of their near and dear ones," said Bhankharia. He added, "These people have no other work except prying on social media accounts. The strike rate, however, is not more than eight to 10 victims a day."The extortion amount starts from Rs 5,000 and can escalate to as high as Rs 2.7 crore - as was the case with a 68-year-old businessman from the Navrangpura area who filed a complaint in January this year. The blackmail amount is boosted depending on the victim's response.B M Tank, DySP cyber cell, Gujarat CID (crime), said, "There is a social stigma attached to reporting sextortion cases. The victims don't come forward to register FIRs and it is because of this that the criminals get emboldened. Our cybercrime prevention team has been proactive in locating these gangs prowling on social media. However, curtailing this menace without public participation would be a Herculean task."

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Men in their 40s soft targets of sextortion gangs, say Gujarat cops - Indiatimes.com

Singapore, March 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PREMA is an NFT-integrated application platform based on Web 3.0 network, focusing on the sale, trading, and practical application of NFT. PREMA can provide users with convenient NFT trading and NFT multifunctional application services. On March 7th, they established a strategic business alliance with Avacus Inc.The company provides distributed social networking services (hereinafter referred to as "Web3 SNS") "Avacus. app" on Web3.

PREMA develops and services NFT/ blockchain content and operates Samurai Guild Games (SamuraiGG), a gaming guild with 30,000 members (as of February 2023). By forming a business alliance with Avacus Inc., they will promote the following businesses of Avacus.app:

- Use Avacus.app and all kinds of SNS to attract customers;

- Avacus.app and PREMA deployed various Dapps integration;

- In Avacus.app SamuraiGG is formed on the DAO (decentralized autonomous organizations);

- Through Avacus Connect Dapps develops an advertising distribution business (details below).

Avacus.app is a Web3 SNS with a mobile wallet, beta launched in October 2021, and from March 2023, will implement "Avacus Connect", the world's first system to support simultaneous messaging, airdrops and advertising to any NFT holder, to further extend the Web3 project and the use case for the DAO.

The strategic business alliance with Avacus Inc. will providePREMAwith a number of growth benefits and business upgrades to support PREMA's global expansion plans:

1.Attracting customers: Through the use of Avacus. app and various SNS, will increase the visibility ofPREMAsNFT/ blockchain content and SamuraiGG, and attract more users to follow and usetheirplatform.

2.Integration with various Dapps: Avacus. app will integrate with various Dapps deployed by PREMA, which will increase the functionality of both platforms. It even enables users to seamlessly use both platforms and provide a more comprehensive and user-friendly experience.

3.Formation of SamuraiGG DaOs: Formation of SamuraiGG DaOs on Avacus. app will allow for more efficient and decentralized decision-making within guilds.This will provide more transparency and inclusion, which is in line with the Web 3.0 philosophy.

4.Grow the AD distribution business: Growing the AD distribution business through Avacus Connect Dapps will providePREMAwith a new revenue stream that will help the company grow its business.

The business alliance with Avacus Inc. will providethemwith access to the Web3 SNS platform, which will enhance its capabilities and increase its visibility.The benefits of this partnership will result in a more comprehensive and user-friendly experience for users and provide a new revenue stream forPREMA. This makesthema more attractive investment opportunity.

The PREMA platform is centered on the NFT market PREMA X, using the PREMA wallet application and traceability system to integrate NFT and NFT usage scenarios, such as metaverse blockchain games in URL (UnReal Life, non-real world), and physical facilities in IRL (In Real Life, real-world) associated with physical products.

More about PREMA:

PREMA website: https://prmx.io/

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/prema.io/

Discord: http://dsc.gg/official-prema-discord

Telegram: https://t.me/OfficialPREMA

Twitter:https://twitter.com/prema_en

Medium:https://prmx.medium.com/

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PREMA is introducing a "Web3 SNS" system to enhance the Web3 ... - GlobeNewswire

The Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) has blocked the popular social media app TikTok on all government devices unless users have a Standards Plus internet package.

Concerns have grown throughout the world that the software may be used for espionage by Beijing-linked groups, with huge data leaks to China, or critical information falling into the wrong hands.

The Maltese government has been discussing the ramifications of TikTok for transparency and privacy policies.

Whereas the United States has labelled TikTok an addictive drug, the European Commission believes TikTok spied on journalists by utilising their IP addresses.

TikTok, whose parent company is Chinese-owned ByteDance, has been banned from electronic devices managed by the US House of Representatives. And the European Council, as well European Parliament secretary-general Alessandro Chiocchetti, has instructed that TikTok be removed from work devices by 20 March.

In comments to MaltaToday, MITA revealed that technical conversations, especially on TikTok, had already taken place, saying that for the time being it is currently only restricted from certain government devices, the sameas other social networking sites.

The dangers associated with TikTok may be grouped as data gathering, personal identifiable, possible software tampering by TikTok users devices, and possible manipulation of material designed to influence public opinion, MITA told MaltaToday.

TikTok usage via a web browser, according to the public entity, has a risk profile comparable to other website-based social media because it is completely confined within a web browser. These scenarios are common to most similar applications so the risk would be compounded by the way privacy/transparency policies are written and how they are enforced and by who.

A spate of complaints filed by European authorities contesting the companys use of Europeans data over privacy concerns is fuelling the fury against the video-sharing app, which is used by over 250 million Europeans.

Ongoing probes, including Ireland, Romania and Italy, are costing the social media firm, millions in fines.

Several nations have even fined the app, such as the Dutch data protection regulator, which fined TikTok 750,000 in 2021 for abusing childrens privacy.

Several European countries opted to adopt a different approach. While some countries, such as Belgium and Finland, elected to entirely restrict the app, others chose to wait and assess the situation before making a final decision.

The United Kingdom, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Greece, Latvia, and Austria are all keeping an eye on the situation in neighbouring countries before making a decision. In Luxembourg, Bulgaria, and Poland the app is under investigation.

See the original post here:
TikTok blocked on government devices just like other social ... - MaltaToday

By Dr. Stefano Tasselli, Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University and University of Exeter.

My popular colleagues are living on easy street. They talk to everyone, and everyone is nice to them. They are so privileged... If you have ever had thoughts like this, and wanted to do something about it, you are not alone. Many people think the grass is always greener on the other side, and that their coworkers have better, warmer, and more supportive professional networks. What does the science say about this intuition? Is it just a perception or there is any truth behind this thought?

Green grass

Our intuition: the grass is greener on the other side.

In the research that I recently published with Balint Neray and Alessandro Lomi, we combine two studies to provide scientific evidence to this intuition and discuss its implications. First, we found that central individuals in a network (i.e. individuals with a high number of connections with coworkers) are privileged not only because they have many connections, but also because they are connected, on average, to more supportive people. We also found that the professional network of our colleagues is, on average, better than our own network, such that we can affirm scientifically that, yes, the grass is greener on the other side.

Some theory behind it.

How did we come up with these results? How did we find scientific evidence to support this gut feeling? It all turns around a phenomenon that we observe: central people have a double source of advantage. First, they have many ties to others and so can gain easier access to knowledge and other resources. This is the classic argument used by network researchers to explain the benefits of centrality. Beyond that, however, there is a psychological explanation too.

We found that central people interact more frequently (than non-central people) with coworkers who are particularly high in a motivational attribute called by psychologists communal motivation. This attribute defines people who gain social acceptance in organizations by behaving in a pro-social, helpful and supportive way with individuals who have social resources (i.e. individuals who are more central) in workplace networks.

This discovery has two implications, one for the organizational life of network stars (aka, central individuals) and one for the organizational life of us all. First, we show that the advantage of central individuals is twofold: not only they have many ties to coworkers, but they are more connected to pro-social and supportive others. This is a confirmation of the rich get richer prediction: people who have many ties also benefit from having better ties. Second, this phenomenon implies an outcome of relevance to all of us: because central individuals are over-represented (compared to less central individuals) in our networks, our colleagues will have, on average, a more supportive network than our own.

Empirical evidence from two studies.

Combining two empirical studies conducted in medical organizations, we found evidence for this phenomenon. First, we surveyed the knowledge transfer network of 140 medical professionals (doctors, nurses, technicians and para-medicals) involved in the clinical unit of a European hospital. Through two surveys conducted nine months apart, we collected data and developed sophisticated simulation-based network models on tie formation to support our arguments. We replicated our findings through a second, randomized scenario-based study, in which we asked respondents with different degrees of communal motivation to express their networking preferences. Both studies converge in their findings.

What can companies and organizations learn from our research?

We have two suggestions for companies. First, we see plenty of talent programs within and across organizations. However, as we show, these talents tend to have already important advantages in organizations, both structural and psychological. Thus, we suggest that HR managers and bosses should give more attention and opportunities of empowerment to people who are not in the spotlight.

Second, despite overwhelming emphasis on ourselves as the self-made builders of our professional networks, we show that most of the network benefits that we enjoy (or we do not enjoy) depend not just on our actions, but also on psychological characteristics of our contacts. These play a fundamental role in shaping our network outcomes, and understanding who they are, how they think and how they behave, is a crucial need for researchers and practitioners. To simplify, the message of our work is: the personality of others matters because it affects directly what we can achieve. Hence, select these others with care.

What can employees and managers learn from our research?

Again, we have two suggestions. For individuals who are already central in organizational social networks, our findings can explain the psychological mechanisms behind the so call imposter syndrome. The persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills, can indeed be fueled by evidence that surrounding coworkers are a fundamental source of help, support and social capital. However, central individuals must reject this imposter syndromes vicious circle: having a network composed of others who are caring and supportive is indeed, as we show, not a byproduct of luck or randomness, but a peculiarity associated with the quality of ones networking.

Our research has also implications for people who do not occupy central positions in their companys network and, therefore, tend to have less supportive coworkers. Social networking, indeed, is not destiny. As shown by an increasing body of research, networking requires skills, experience and empathy. Social capital, in this sense, can be legitimately considered a correlate, and even a consequence, of human capital. People can be trained, and learn, to empower their networking skills, which in turn can help them reap the structural and psychological benefits of networking. Although this suggestion is sometimes rejected by managers and companies, we suggest that is a crucial way to boost ones chances to get ahead in the modern business environment.

Here is the original post:
'My Colleagues Have A Better Network Than Me' - Forbes

18 March 2023

Image source, Getty Images

Donald Trump says he expects to be arrested on Tuesday and has urged his supporters to launch mass protests.

However his lawyer said there had been no communication from law enforcement and the former president's post was based on media reports.

Prosecutors have been looking at a possible indictment of Mr Trump. Reports say it could come next week.

If he is indicted, it would be the first criminal case ever brought against a former US president.

This case focuses on alleged hush money paid on Mr Trump's behalf by his lawyer to porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election.

It is one of several cases in which the 76-year-old is currently being investigated, although he has not yet been charged in any and denies wrongdoing in each.

Mr Trump has pledged to continue his campaign to become the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election, even if he is indicted.

Past efforts to investigate him, including two impeachment trials, the Russia investigation and the Mar-a-Lago raid, have tended to make him more popular with his base, so an indictment could have a similar effect.

It is not yet known if he is going to be criminally charged this week or even, beyond broad strokes, what those charges might be.

But with the former president predicting an arrest, and calling for mass protests, this is a journey into unknown territory.

Mr Trump has a loyal base of followers, and the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters following his repeated calls to protest has proven that a fraught situation can quickly escalate into violence.

On Saturday Mr Trump wrote on his social networking site Truth Social that "illegal leaks" from the Manhattan district attorney's office "indicate" he would be arrested on Tuesday.

The district attorney's office has not yet commented. Mr Trump's lawyer, Susan Necheles, said her team had not heard anything from law enforcement officials.

"Since this is a political prosecution, the district attorney's office has engaged in a practice of leaking everything to the press, rather than communicating with President Trump's attorneys as would be done in a normal case," she said.

Image source, Getty Images

The case of Stormy Daniels is one of several legal woes facing the former US president

The Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, has hit out at the investigation, calling it "an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA [district attorney]".

In a tweet, he also promised to investigate whether federal money was being used to interfere in elections "with politically motivated prosecutions".

Any indictment would create a complicated calculation for Mr Trump's rivals within the Republican Party, as they decide whether to up their attacks on the former president while he is potentially distracted or keep their heads down and hope for the best.

If history is any guide, it will be the latter.

Grand jury finishes its investigation

Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and ex-aides Kellyanne Conway and Hope Hicks, are among those understood to have given evidence so far. The Trump team has said the former president declined an invitation to appear, a sign the case is almost over, according to experts. Reports suggest one final witness could give evidence, possibly on Monday.

Prosecutors decide whether to indict

Once the investigation is complete, the grand jury votes on whether to recommend criminal charges. However, their verdict is not binding. Ultimately, it is up to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to determine what, if any, charges to bring. There is no deadline for this. It is a legal decision - what does he believe can he prove beyond a reasonable doubt to win a conviction - but also a deeply political one.

A possible Trump court appearance in New York

A former US president has never been indicted before but Mr Trump's lawyer said he would follow normal procedure. Typically, a defendant is either arrested or surrenders to the authorities - if they are facing a more serious felony charge they would be handcuffed. They then have their photo and fingerprints taken. After an initial hearing - called an arraignment - a defendant in a white-collar crime case like this is usually released until the next court date.

The Stormy Daniels case is about how Mr Trump reimbursed his lawyer Michael Cohen after Cohen paid Ms Daniels $130,000. The record for the payment reimbursing Cohen says the payment was for "legal fees". Prosecutors may say this amounts to Mr Trump falsifying business records, a misdemeanour in New York.

US media organisations say law enforcement agencies in New York are preparing for the possibility of Mr Trump being indicted and appearing in a Manhattan courtroom as early as next week.

According to the Associated Press, they are considering the practicalities of taking a former president into court, including questions around security.

Donald Trump faces a separate criminal investigation over efforts to overturn his narrow loss in the state of Georgia in the 2020 presidential election - though it is not known if the former president is being directly investigated.

The Department of Justice is also looking at whether classified government documents were handled incorrectly after Mr Trump left office, as well as broader efforts to undermine the results of the presidential election three years ago - including the 6 January attack.

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Ex-US President Donald Trump expects to be arrested on Tuesday - BBC