As crime had spread across the Net, law enforcement had begun to gain ground on those using the Web for illegal ends. In 1996, the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Department of Justice created the Infotech Training Working Group to investigate on-line violations of the law. This office evolved into the National Cybercrime Training Partnership (NCTP), and the NCTP worked with various levels of law enforcement to develop long-range strategies, raise public awareness, and build momentum to combat the problem on many different fronts. The National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), based in Richmond, Virginia, offered operational support to the NCTP and functioned as an information clearinghouse for cyber-crime (on-line white-collar crime involves identify theft, theft of assets, or fraud). All these agencies worked together to generate more funding to help law enforcement keep up with the ever-changing computer world. Those in charge of policing the Net looked upon their mission as a battle that they could not afford to lose.
“The technology revolution is here and it is not only assisting law enforcement, it is working for the criminals,” said Richard L. Johnston, the director of NW3C. “There is very little time to accomplish a lot with limited resources. We are at a crossroad. The sense of urgency to focus on program coordination, deploying a plan quickly, and underwriting every initiative with a solid base of training is real because the window of opportunity for law enforcement to keep pace with cyber-crime is not only short—it’s closing.”
One problem for the authorities was the difficulty police departments had in competing with private companies for computer expertise. Trained technical personnel could usually earn far more money in the private sector than working for public agencies. Near the end of his second term as president, Bill Clinton took measures to alleviate the situation by announcing plans for congressional funding for scholarships to those who studied computer security and then agreed to join the Federal Cyber Service after graduation. The program was modeled on the military one that had been successfully used by the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps on college campuses.
In 1999, the FBI and hundreds of police departments around the country began using software called the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, or VICAP, so they could share information to track kidnappers, rapists, and murderers. The software allows the agencies to send requests for information electronically and to cross-reference their investigative work, and it has led to a database holding eighty thousand cases. The program has connected vital clues found in different locations and helped solved many cases. Two examples are the Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, the Texas Railroad Killer, case, and the Samantha Runnion murder case in California. VICAP now churns out about eighty leads a month.
Also in 1999, the Training and Research Institute of NW3C conducted an in-depth survey on white-collar violations of the law. The institute found that in part because of the recent emergence of the Internet, one in three American households were now the victims of white-collar crime. Traditional street crimes were falling in many places around the nation, but high-tech crimes were on the rise. The institute also found that only 7 percent of these on-line victims contacted a law enforcement agency. To boost this figure, in May 2000, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the NW3C announced the creation of the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC). The new organization was established to provide a vehicle for victims nationwide to report incidents of on-line fraud (in 2002, eBay introduced a “university,” where one could go on the Net and take classes that helped a person avoid cyber-fraud).
“The Internet Fraud Complaint Center allows consumers who suspect Internet fraud to share that information with law enforcement quickly and efficiently,” Attorney General Janet Reno said at the time the IFCC was introduced. “Our ability to work with private citizens and industry is extremely important to our efforts to fight Internet crime, and the IFCC is a major step forward in that fight.”
“The Internet,” said then FBI director Louis J. Freeh, “provides a boundless new medium for many traditional frauds investigated by the FBI. That there are real victims suffering significant losses remains unchanged. This center is another positive development as law enforcement responds to yet another facet of cyber-crime.”
In early 2001, the IFCC issued its first study on Internet fraud, and the numbers were significant. In its initial six months of operation, the IFCC received 20,014 fraud complaints, and 6,087 of those were referred to law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. California ranked first in Internet fraud victims and criminals, followed by Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New York. The FBI does not have a statistical percentage for the clearance or solution rate, but due to the difficulty of tracing the origin of on-line fraud violation and the overall complexity of this kind of investigation, the clearance rate is currently low.
“E-business is no longer just a buzzword,” said Texas State securities commissioner and NW3C board member Denise Voigt Crawford in response to this report. “It’s here to stay and we must find ways to help consumers and businesses have confidence in the transaction technology they choose. Part of the commitment to our electronic commerce community rests in law enforcement’s ability to respond quickly to crime problems as they arise. To do that, enforcement professionals at all levels must have training and programs in place to prepare them to meet new challenges.”
Later in 2001, the National Cybercrime Training Partnership held a number of focus group meetings and found that “electronic crime is having a profound effect on law enforcement and no agency is escaping it.” After conducting a survey of thirty-one state and local law enforcement agencies responsible for training more than eighty-four thousand people to combat Internet crime, the NCTP called for more program coordination, fast-track initiatives implementation, and skills training. In its report, the NCTP listed the ten most critical issues surrounding Internet crime:
In May 2001, as a result of the growing sophistication on the part of law enforcement, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the NW3C announced that criminal charges were being brought against nearly ninety individuals and companies accused of Internet fraud. The massive investigation, called Operation Cyber Loss, was initiated by the IFCC and included charges of on-line auction fraud, systemic nondelivery of merchandise purchased over the Internet, credit /debit card fraud, bank fraud, investment fraud, money laundering, multilevel marketing and Ponzi/Pyramid schemes, and intellectual property rights violations. Altogether these frauds victimized fifty-six thousand people who lost in excess of $117 million.
“Just as neighborhood watch programs keep watch over their neighborhoods and report suspicious activity to law enforcement,” said Attorney General Ashcroft, “Internet users now have a ‘cyber-community watch program.’ When individual citizens, businesses, and consumer agencies work with law enforcement at all levels, we help ensure the safety and security of the Internet.”
Government groups weren’t the only ones sending out warning signals about the Net. Two Virginia-based private organizations, the National Law Center for Children and Enough Is Enough, provided information to parents, teachers, and local, state, or federal employees about the dangers of child pornography, while supporting legislative efforts to control or get rid of it. Written material produced by Enough Is Enough described child porn as a billion-dollar-a-year industry that was a threat to children “both morally and physically…. Any child with a computer can simply ‘call up’ and…‘printout’ pictures that are unspeakably pornographic.” The literature described in detail how child predators used the Internet to find kids before meeting them in person and molesting them.
“There are more outlets for hard-core pornography in America,” it concluded, “than McDonald’s restaurants.”
(For statistics regarding these Web sites and a list of tips to avoid their dangers, see Appendices A and B starting on page 287.)