Spotting the con artists who create virtual banks
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| How much cybercrime on his beat ? |
London, 29 November 2001 - Cybercrime investigators working for ICC Commercial Crime Services are exposing elaborate scams peddled over the net and warning would-be investors before they lose their shirts.
The CCS Cybercrime Unit is zeroing in on phony banks - many of them using names resembling those of some of the world's most respected financial institutions - and alerting the Internet service providers that unwittingly host the fraudulent sites.
Many of them copy the l
etterhead and logos of well-known banks to give their scam credibility. They also display documents such as bank guarantees purportedly issued by reputable institutions. A victim is directed to these sites and often believes that financing is available backed by these instruments.
Jon Merritt, who runs the unit, says the illicit nature of the bogus sites can be established fairly quickly. There is, for example, a non-existent bank that promises new customers it will "help you to make the most of our international life style" by introducing them to "a totally new way of banking."
The bank lists a bogus head office address in the City financial district of London that is the same as one of the world's leading names in finance. An investigation into the registration of its website points to a rambling house converted to apartments in a rundown suburb of South London.
Another company uses a name that could be confused with a well-known securities company based in the United Kingdom. It turns out to have a website produced entirely in Russian, which appears to offer to arrange loans to investors in the republic. Its office can be traced back to premises above a toy shop in Taunton, Somerset.
The Cybercrime Unit, like other parts of CCS, has no power to investigate money laundering of fraud, but provides information to police and regulatory bodies. It also warns businesses of potential risks and conducts due diligence checks on suspect companies.
Jon Merrit says: "Cybercrime constitutes a change of method rather than a change of purpose, with criminals exploiting the extra leverage offered by information technology. Victims face not only financial losses, but may also incur increased insurance costs, negative publicity, loss of data and exposure to criminal and civil liability."