Story of a six day ‘virtual house arrest’ highlights the disturbing evolution of scams, where fear, surveillance and manipulation are weaponised to control victims remotely…reports Asian Lite News
Indian journalists have earned global recognition after winning a prestigious Pulitzer Prize for an investigative project exposing cybercrime networks.
Anand RK and Suparna Sharma, along with colleague Natalie Obiko Pearson, were awarded in the Illustrated Reporting and Commentary category for their work published by Bloomberg.
The Pulitzer Prizes, widely regarded as the highest honours in American journalism, are administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Their winning project delivered a gripping account of cyber fraud in India, centred on a Lucknow based neurologist, Ruchira Tandon, who was duped by criminals posing as officials. She was coerced into a six day “virtual house arrest” while Rs 2.8 crore was siphoned from her bank accounts.
The Pulitzer board said the work highlighted the growing global threat of digital scams and surveillance.
In the same category, another Indian journalist, Devjyot Ghoshal, was named a finalist for his investigation into cybercrime and trafficking networks across Southeast Asia. His report revealed how victims from multiple countries, including India, are held in camps and forced to carry out online scams targeting people worldwide.
Meanwhile, Hanoi based reporter Aniruddha Ghosal was part of a team that won in the International Reporting category for an investigation into the secret use of mass surveillance tools by US authorities. The series also uncovered how similar technologies have been deployed in countries such as China.
Anand RK, a Mumbai based illustrator and visual artist, and Suparna Sharma, an independent investigative journalist, were recognised for combining visual storytelling with deep reporting to expose complex cybercrime operations.
