Techno-Crime in America: New Opportunities,

Techniques, Offenders, and Victims

Lecture: Professor James Byrne

New Opportunities for Crime

• The old world adage still applies – crime follows opportunity.

• New technologies create provide new opportunities for crime.

• Today, computers provide new opportunities for crime and victimization

• Almost a century ago, it was the invention of the car

Cars and Criminal Opportunity: A Case Study• In the 1920s private cars became widely

affordable. This technology embodied the following characteristics:

• - affordability – wide spread across socio-economic groups

• - speed – cars were much faster than any previously available private transport (ie the horse)

• - distance – cars could travel long distances without resting (like a horse would have to)

• - carrying capacity – cars could carry much more than a horse

• - anonymity – occupants of a car could not be as easily recognized as someone on horseback or on foot.

Cars and Crime

• The result was significant growth in certain types of crime, including:

• - bank robberies and housebreaking;• - abduction;• - smuggling and other transport of

illicit goods;• and new crimes: theft of cars

themselves.

Cars and Criminal justice

• NEW regulatory and law enforcement countermeasures included:

• - introduction of number plates, chassis and engine serial numbers;

• - introduction of motorcycle police and patrol and pursuit cars;

• - improved premises security including burglar alarms and security patrols; and

• - improved cross – jurisdictional arrangements.

• Some of the countermeasures were aimed at specifics new crimes, BUT most were aimed at counteracting old crimes using new technology.

Computers and Criminal Opportunity• E-commerce is –global; accessible; automated, immediate;

capable of operating without the “collateral info” we have all relied upon in the past; can be hidden from scrutiny through encryption and all these things together create new business models – new ways of doing business.

• electronic crime IS AN OUTGROWTH OF E-commerce:• - global; criminals can operate around the world literally;• - accessible in ways never before seen and to people who, in the

past, may never have led lives of crime;• - automated• - lots of small crimes can be effected wherein the past that would

have been all too hard;• - immediate- criminals can move fast!;• - anonymous, or as good as; OFFENDERS ARE HIDDEN.

The Link Between E-Commerce and Electronic Crime• E-Crime is a variation on an old theme– old

scams, old crimes done in new ways.• So, just as the motor car became a vehicle

for facilitation of crime – COMPUTERS are now used by criminals.

• But then, that is the risk run every time a new technological development occurs.

• In commercial terms, crime is a risk of doing business and it requires risk management. Not risk elimination, but management.

Categories of Computer Crime

• 1. The Computer is the instrument to commit the crime: e.g.credit card fraud

• 2. The Computer is the target of the offense: e.g. theft of data files, personal info. ( From Target to SONY before release of The Interview)

• 3. The Computer is incidental to the offense: e.g. telemarketing fraud

New Technology of Crime

• Check and Credit Card Fraud • Clandestine Drug Labs • Misuse and Abuse of 9/11 • Prescription Fraud • Rave Parties • Telemarketing Fraud • Common Fraud Schemes - FBI

New Technology of Crime: A Brief Overview

• Check and Credit Card Fraud • Clandestine Drug Labs • Misuse and Abuse of 9/11 • Prescription Fraud • Rave Parties • Telemarketing Fraud • Common Fraud Schemes - FBI

The Internet and criminal opportunity• Inside the Darknet: Silk Road and

other darknet sites• https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfuZJVpNWR4

Check and Credit Card Fraud

The Global cost of credit card fraud was 14 billion in 2013 alone.Visa International estimated that the yearly cost of fraud worldwide was about 0.05 cent per every dollar spent.

• In 2012, the U.S. accounted for 23.5% of global payment card volume, but 47.3% of payment card fraud, according to a report by Nilson. We are targetted: Why? One reason is that the U.S. has not adopted the “chip card” standard like other countries. Also, record data breaches( Target fraud cost 500 million)

• In the United States , the losses from online credit card fraud alone have grown from $3.2 billion in 2007 to over

7.1 billion in 2013.• Electronic pickpocketing https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qPPyoN-CXE

How do offenders illegally acquire checks and cards? •   Altering checks and cards. Offenders can do so with the simplest

equipment. However, altered checks and cards are sometimes easy to detect.

• Counterfeiting checks and cards. Reasonably priced machines for embossing, encoding, and applying holograms to cards are available on the Internet.

• Committing application fraud. Offenders get a checking or credit card account by using another person's identity or a fictitious one.

• Stealing checks and cards through muggings, pickpocketing, theft from cars, and burglaries.

• Intercepting checks and cards in the mail. • Getting another person's PIN through trickery, for example, by "shimming"

(watching as the person punches in a PIN). • Manufacturing and marketing counterfeit cards via internationally

organized crime rings. • Renting or selling stolen or counterfeit cards to a group of "steady

customers" via locally organized crime rings. • Hacking into a retailer's customer database to get credit card numbers. • Setting up bogus websites that request credit card and other personal

information.

Mobile Technology means New Fraud Techniques• Credit cards.com identifies three

techniques:• QR code fraud powered by gift cards that

are designed to include malware that steals info. Like bank accounts

• FBI scam for desktop computers: says you have a virus and for a fee that you need to pay with a gift card, they will repair it.

• Mobile Malware: fake apps that download viruses and malware onto smartphones

New Drugs, New Crimes

• Clandestine Drug Labs • Harms Caused by Clandestine

Methamphetamine Labs • Clandestine methamphetamine labs cause

three main types of harm: (1) physical injury from explosions, fires, chemical burns, and toxic fumes; (2) environmental hazards; and (3) child endangerment.

• Party Drugs • Synthetic marijuana and variations • Steroids, HGH, etc.

New drugs, New Crimes

• Rave-Related Drugs • Although ravers might use any number of legal

and illegal drugs, certain drugs are most commonly associated with the rave scene. Among them are:

• Ecstasy (or MDMA),† † MDMA is only one of perhaps over 200 analogues to the chemical MDA (3,4 - methylenedioxyamphetamine) (Spruit 1999).

• Ketamine,†† †† Because Ketamine is used as a veterinary anesthetic, trafficking in it is often connected to burglaries of veterinary clinics and pharmacies

• LSD (or "acid"), • Rohypnol, and GHB .

Drugs and the Internet

• We spend billions on prescription drugs in the U.S. each year. Unfortunately, there is a serious problem related to the sale of fake drugs on the internet.

• A recent study concluded that the number of people who abuse prescription drugs each year roughly equals the number who abuse cocaine —about 2 to 4 percent of the population.

• A variety of illegal drugs are bought and sold on the internet. Website: Silkroad and other darknet websites

Prescription Fraud

• People commit prescription fraud in numerous ways, including

• forging prescriptions,• going to several doctors to get

multiple prescriptions (termed “doctor shopping”),

• and altering prescriptions to increase the quantity .

Fake Drugs and New Crimes

• Throughout history, scam artists have sold fake remedies for various diseases.

• Today, the internet is being used to sell fake drugs to cure a variety of diseases, including AIDS, and various forms of Cancer.

• Internet scams also target hair loss, anti-aging, weight loss, and human growth drugs.

Common Fraud Schemes - FBI• Common Fraud Scams-

Telemarketing Fraud- Fraud Alert - Nigerian Letter or 419 Fraud-Impersonation/Identity Fraud-Advance Fee Scheme-Health Insurance -Redemption/Strawman/Bond Fraud

• Investment Related Scams- Letter of Credit Fraud- Prime Bank Note-Ponzi Scheme-Pyramid Scheme

New Technology and Youth Violence

 • Cyberstalking • Cyber child pornography, sexting• Internet-related sex crimes, including

solicitation and human trafficking• Website Perverted Justice: hired by

producers of To Catch a Predator to identify online solicitation( entrapment?)

• http://www.perverted-justice.com/ • https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET43wwyqteM

Reporting Computer-Related Crime

• Computer intrusion (i.e. hacking)• FBI local office • U.S. Secret Service • Internet Crime Complaint Center • Password trafficking • FBI local office • U.S. Secret Service • Internet Crime Complaint Center • Counterfeiting of currency • U.S. Secret Service

Reporting Computer Crime

• Child Pornography or Exploitation • FBI local office • if imported,

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

• Internet Crime Complaint Center • Child Exploitation and Internet Fraud

matters that have a mail nexus• U.S. Postal Inspection Service • Internet Crime Complaint Center

Reporting Computer Crime

• Internet fraud and SPAM• FBI local office • U.S. Secret Service (Financial Crimes Division) • Federal Trade Commission (online complaint) • if securities fraud or investment-related SPAM e-mails,

Securities and Exchange Commission (online complaint) • The Internet Crime Complaint Center • Internet harassment• FBI local office • Internet bomb threats• FBI local office • ATF local office • Trafficking in explosive or incendiary devices or firearms over the

Internet• FBI local office • ATF local office