After practicals, Atharv left the computer laboratory but forgot to sign off from his email account. Later, hi

Exercises · Q1

Q. After practicals, Atharv left the computer laboratory but forgot to sign off from his email account. Later, his classmate Revaan started using the same computer. He is now logged in as Atharv. He sends inflammatory email messages to few of his classmates using Atharv’s email account. Revaan’s activity is an example of which of the following cyber crime? Justify your answer.

a) Hacking

b) Identity theft

c) Cyber bullying

d) Plagiarism

Gujarat GsebTextbookMCQ· 1mImportance★★★★★

23% · 7/31 Questions

✓ Free question

Concept understanding — Identity Theft

Imagine you receive a letter from a bank confirming a loan you never applied for. Or a friend asks why you sent them a strange message asking for money. That sinking feeling is the first sign of identity theft — someone has stolen not your wallet, but your name, your financial history, your digital self.

At its simplest, identity theft is the fraudulent acquisition and use of another person's personal identifying information, usually for financial gain. It is not just a "hacking" problem; it is a crime of impersonation. The thief collects enough pieces of your identity — your full name, date of birth, Aadhaar number, PAN card, bank account details, or even just your phone number and address — to pretend to be you.

The everyday intuition is this: in the physical world, your identity is your face, your signature, your voice. In the digital and financial world, your identity is a collection of data points. If someone steals your physical wallet, you lose cash and cards. If someone steals your digital identity, they can open accounts, take loans, file fake tax returns, or commit crimes in your name — and you may not know for months.

Important

Identity theft is a criminal offence under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 66C) in India. It is treated as cheating by impersonation and carries punishment including imprisonment. The victim is often left to prove their own innocence to banks, credit bureaus, and police.

The methods used are varied and often disturbingly simple:

Phishing: fake emails or SMS pretending to be from a bank or government agency, asking you to "verify" your details.
Data breaches: when a company you trust (a hotel, an e-commerce site, a hospital) loses your data to hackers.
Shoulder surfing: someone watching you type your PIN or password in a public place.
Dumpster diving: retrieving discarded bills, bank statements, or old SIM cards from your trash.
SIM swapping: tricking your mobile provider into transferring your number to a new SIM, so the thief can receive your OTPs.

Why does this matter to you as a commerce or humanities student? Because your financial life is built on trust in identity. A credit score, a bank account, a property deed, a government subsidy — all depend on the system believing that you are who you say you are. Once that trust is broken, even temporarily, the consequences are severe: denied loans, legal notices for debts you never incurred, frozen accounts, and months of paperwork to restore your name.

Note

The most dangerous form is child identity theft — a minor's clean Aadhaar or PAN is stolen and used for years before the child ever applies for a loan or a job. By then, the damage is deep and hard to untangle.

Prevention is not about paranoia; it is about habits. Never share OTPs or passwords, even with someone claiming to be from your bank. Shred documents with personal data before discarding them. Use different passwords for different accounts. Check your credit report (available free from credit bureaus like CIBIL) at least once a year. And if you suspect theft, file a police complaint immediately and inform your bank and the cyber crime portal.

Identity theft is not a distant, technical crime. It is a violation of the most basic trust in modern life — that your name belongs to you. Understanding it is the first step to protecting it.

The correct option is b) Identity theft — Revaan sends emails as Atharv, i.e. he assumes and misuses another person's digital identity.

The concept (identity theft). Identity theft is using someone else's identifiers — their account, name, password, or other credentials — to act as that person, usually to that person's detriment. Here every inflammatory email carries Atharv's identity: recipients believe Atharv sent them, and any blame lands on Atharv. That is precisely the harm identity theft describes.

Why each other option is wrong

a) Hacking — hacking means gaining unauthorised access by breaking into a system (cracking passwords, exploiting flaws). Revaan broke nothing: the account was already signed in when he sat down. The wrongdoing is the impersonation that followed, not a break-in.
c) Cyber bullying — the inflammatory messages could distress the classmates, so there is a bullying flavour; but the question asks what Revaan's activity of using Atharv's account exemplifies. The defining feature of the act is that it is done under Atharv's stolen identity, which makes identity theft the best (and intended) classification.
d) Plagiarism — plagiarism is presenting someone else's work or ideas as your own. No content was copied here; identities, not works, were misused.

Watch out

"The account was left open, so it isn't a crime" is a misconception — using someone's account without consent is misuse of their identity regardless of how access was obtained. (Atharv's lesson: always sign out on shared computers.)

✓Final answer

b) Identity theft. Revaan logged in as Atharv and sent inflammatory emails in his name — assuming another person's digital identity is identity theft; it is not hacking (no break-in), not merely cyber bullying, and not plagiarism.

←Previous section · summarySummary →Next questionQ2 — Rishika found a crumpled paper under her desk. She picked it up and op…

🎓Unlock everything free for 14 days

Unlock everything free for 14 days