Fighting Fraud: silicon.com readers have their say

NEWS On the eve of the announcement of the launch of the National Crime Squad's Hi-Tech Crime Unit (HCTU), silicon.com called for the establishment of an internet fraud complaints centre to provide a neutral point of contact for all of those affected by web fraud. Most responses voiced the concern that the HTCU might ignore the vast majority of complaints. The response of the British Web Design and Marketing Association, which advises the government on the web, was typical of many responses. "We believe that the small group of 80 police officers in the Hi-Tech Crime Unit will focus on headline crime and not the everyday criminal activity that is undermining the integrity of the web," said a spokesman. Alan Scutt of security specialist Clearcommerce, a founding member of the Fraud Prevention Network said that despite the police initiative, "we still have serious concerns over the management of internet fraud, especially the lack of support for online merchants". silicon.com readers were just as vocal. "There is a lot of work to do just to get most large businesses to realise just how bad the problem of internet fraud is," said Robert Maillet, CEO of AmeriCert. He added: "The worst thing about e-fraud is that the biggest majority of the e-fraud problem comes from within." Royal Hansen of the digital security consultancy @stake also sees a danger in the new police unit concentrating on 'glamour' crimes. He likened the police efforts to the 'peelers' of the Victorian era, currently lacking the training to deal with the new breed of criminal. Hansen also pointed out that the police efforts will only scratch the surface, and that crimes on the web are now growing at an alarming rate, and include industrial espionage as well as the more commonly recognised problems of hacking and virus writing.