Privacy, Security & Virus Information

e Crime has a new unit

e Crime is now so widespread and poses such a threat, that Scotland Yard has established the first ever specialist internet crime unit in Britain.

Current estimates suggest that e crime, or cyber crime, represents a fraud of around £50 billion a year. And behind this staggering level of theft and deception, are not small-time computer hackers working in their bedrooms, but major organised crime gangs intent on exploiting people's online vulnerability.

The new e Crime unit will be staffed with specially trained police officers and support personnel. Their brief will be to take on the task of tracking down the gangs behind such online crimes as identity theft and fraudulent credit card transactions.

With funding approaching eight million pounds over a three-year period, the Home Office believes the new e crime unit, known officially as The Police Central e-crime Unit (PCeU) and with a nationwide brief, will be able to address the almost unstoppable spread of cyber crime. Half of the money is being provided by the Government and half by the police force.

But some people believe the Government should have gone one step further and made e crimes reportable to the police initially, and not just the financial institution that provides say the credit card. In the U.S, special police cyber crime units are involved from the outset.

What concerns the Government most of all, and they have come under attack from opposition parties for not creating a unit of this kind for some time, is the ease with which people are getting caught.

The comparison is often made that if a person was stopped in the street and asked a number of personal details, including their bank card details, then they would not dream of answering. Yet, online, time after time people are providing their details in reply to emails that ask them very personal and in-depth questions. But such is the sophistication of the cyber crime gangs, that it is not a matter of only the computer 'innocent' being caught out.

Many people, across all sectors of society, regularly fall prey to ever more ingenious ways of gaining information. It is reckoned that over four million people a year have fallen prey to online credit card fraud. And, people's card details, and personal details, are being traded between gangs for as little as 50p a time.

And it has moved onto not only trying to obtain information by deception, to online thieves downloading software programmes (known as Malware) and making a person's computer divulge personal information without the operator knowing.

But one thing is for certain, never venture out into cyber space naked. Always have the best protective software you can afford, otherwise, you just might find that an online thief has stripped away more than just your pride!

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