Apps track your location to make money

Personal data stolen by the apps are being sold to brokers, aggregators, and legal firms. Advertising agencies are part of the game that target ads based on the location and preferences of mobile users.
Social media plays the role of an effective communication mechanism in the modern world. Most of the people in the country use smartphones. On the other hand, the use of mobile and net banking, debit cards, and credit cards has increased for transactions of money. With this, the pace of cyber crimes has also increased. These include cases like fraud, fake news, character assassination on social media, and blackmailing through objectionable viral videos. The personal data stolen by the apps are being sold to brokers, aggregators, and legal firms. Ad agencies are part of the game that target ads based on the location and preferences of mobile users.
Mobile apps are in demand these days, but one should keep only those apps in the smartphone that are trustworthy. Keep the minimum number of apps on mobile. Never grant permission that is not necessary for the functioning of the app. Do not allow access to your photos and videos. Your mobile apps are thieves and spies who steal your confidential information and data all the time. The apps will track your habits, places visited, lifestyle, and health condition means each and everything about your personal life. Your life is under constant watch.
Similarly, the use of WhatsApp has increased tremendously nowadays. Its chat can be used against a person who has indulged in illegal activities. This is a great tool for investigating agencies to track illegal activities in depth. In the case of Aryan Khan or the drug abuse case associated with the actor Sushant Singh Rajput, it was noticed that NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) had been relying on WhatsApp chats of the Bollywood stars and drug suppliers.
Every word written on WhatsApp or any other app can be further evidence against the user. Always assume that someone other than the receiver is reading your messages. Remember, whatever goes on in the internet world, stays there forever. People think that if they delete what they write on social media, they will be saved. It is not so, deleted chats can be found in the backup server or another person’s history.
Never forward or transmit communally sensitive or obscene material from your mobile phone or computer devices. There are specific provisions under the IPC and the IT Act to deal with such offenses. Avoid coming in contact with fake and suspicious people. Do not answer their queries. Do not download, forward, or save fake, false, defamatory, and character assassination kind videos on WhatsApp. Similarly, never post or tweet anything of defamatory nature, or else it may create a serious problem for you. Remember the FIRs lodged against actor Kangana Ranaut, poet Kumar Vishwas, and recently against the notorious filmmaker KRK, who got arrested on his arrival at the Mumbai Airport for tweeting bad words about Rishi Kapoor and Irrfan Khan after their demise. 
In case of financial loss due to online fraud, inform the police immediately or within 24 hours on toll-free number 112 or 55260. The police try to recover the missing amount as soon as possible. Jamtara area in eastern Jharkhand is considered a major hub of cyber crimes in India. There is poverty, and there is no electricity, but there is a lot of cyber fraud in hundreds of villages in that area. These illiterate thugs are adept at cheating on mobile phones. They operate from their huts in a discreet manner.
(The author is a senior journalist and columnist)