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Cybercrime
Theft, fraud and financial crime
The convergence of computing and communications technologies has changed dramatically the nature of our lives, at least for those of us who live in developed countries. We are able to do our shopping and banking from home, work and be paid electronically, and engage in leisure activities using computers. Government benefits are also able to be processed electronically and a wide range of services delivered on-line. 'Digitisation', or the process of reducing information to electronic streams of '0s and 1s' that are stored on computers, has enabled people to communicate more effectively and at lower cost than in the past. It has also meant that geographical boundaries are able to be crossed more easily. This has enhanced the process of globalisation of economic and social life enormously.
These same technologies that have provided so many benefits have, however, created enormous opportunities for economic offenders. Fraudsters are able to communicate with each other in secret, disguise their identities in order to avoid detection, and manipulate electronic payment systems to obtain funds illegally. They are also able to target a wide range of potential victims throughout the world, all from the comfort of their home or office. The risk of fraud is one of the principal barriers to electronic commerce systems becoming widely accepted in the community.
Source: Smith R 2002. New age fraud - electronic fraud, paper presented at the CPA congress 2000, 24-26 Oct 2000
- UK online fraud report
Cybersource. Annual fraud report. - Scoping paper on online identity theft
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2008 - Losses from online credit card fraud against small business
Australian Institute of Criminology, 2005 - Trust and growth in the online environment
Australian Government Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, 2005 - Cybercrime against businesses (PDF 146kB)
Ramona R Rantala, Bureau of Justice Statistics (US), 2004 - Inquiry into fraud and electronic commerce: Final report (PDF 1.8MBx) |Emerging trends and best practice responses, discussion paper (PDF 1.1MB)
Parliament of Victoria. Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee, 2004/2002 - Identifying and responding to electronic fraud risks
Adam Graycar and Russell Smith. 30th Australasian registrars' conference, 2002 - Fraud in cyberspace (PDF 285kB)
Richard Vriesde. International policing conference, 2001 - Internet related fraud : crisis or beat-up?
Russell Smith. Fourth national outlook symposium on crime in Australia, 2001 - The rising tide of internet fraud
Jonathan Rusch. US Attorney's Bulletin, 2001 - The changing nature of fraud in Australia
Australian Government Attorney-General's Department, 2000 - Confronting fraud in the digital age
Russell Smith. Fraud prevention and control conference, 2000 - E-commerce and cybercrime : new strategies for managing the risks of exploitation (PDF 187kB)
Thomas Talleur. KPMG, 2000 - Global threat of economic and cyber crime (PDF 646kB)
US National Fraud Center and Economic Crime Institute, 2000 - New age fraud - electronic fraud
Russell Smith. CPA congress, 2000 - When economic crime becomes organised : the role of information technologies : a case study
Andrea Di Nicola and Alessandro Scartezzini. Current issues in criminal justice journal, 2000
Identity fraud
See: Fraud and white collar crime
Electronic funds transfers
See Fraud and white collar crime
Phishing
- Why phishing works (PDF 852kB)
Rachna Dhamija, JD Tygar and Marti Hearst, 2006 - Phishing
Tony Krone. High tech crime brief, 2005 - Reducing the risks of 'phishing'
AICrime reduction matters, 2005 - Phishing - don't take the bait! Avoid being caught by fraudulent email
Australian Government Department of Communication, Information Technology and the Arts, 2004 - Special report on "phishing" (PDF 110kB)
Department of Justice (US), 2004 - Phishing scams, emails and websites
Fraud Watch International - Anti Phishing Working Group
Corporations and governments
- Electronic attacks on Australian organisations
Australian Institute of Criminology, 2007 - Corporate crime in the digital age
Russell Smith. Corporate crime workshop, 2002 - Electronic voting : benefits and risks
Russell G Smith. Australian Institute of Criminology, 2002. See also fact sheet: Electronic voting - Identifying and responding to corporate fraud in the 21st century
Peter Grabosky and Adam Graycar, presentation at Australian Institute of Management, 2002 - Controlling fraud on the Internet : a CAPA perspective
Russell G Smith and Gregor Urbas. Australian Institute of Criminology, 2001 - Exploiting emerging technology corruptly in the NSW public sector
Christopher Bell, with Lisa Zipparo. NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, 2001 - The need to know eCorruption and unmanaged risk
NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, 2001 - Defrauding governments in the twenty-first centuryx
Russell G Smith. Australian Institute of Criminology, 1999 - Electronic Medicare fraud : current and future risks
Russell G Smith. Australian Institute of Criminology, 1999
Sales and investment scams
- Consumer scams in Australia
Australian Institute of Criminology, 2007 - Consumer scams in Australia: an overview
Russell G Smith. Australian Institute of Criminology, 2007 - Internet purchasing : perceptions and experiences of Australian households
Tony Krone and Holly Johnson. Australian Institute of Criminology, 2007 - The risk of criminal exploitation of online auctions
Australian Institute of Criminology, 2007 - The 419 scam
Caslon Analytics, 2006 - Cybercrime : advance fee scams in-country and across borders
Pauline C Reich. Crime in Australia : international connections conference, 2004 - E-Commerce and internet auction fraud: the e-Bay community model
Mohamed S Wahab, 2004 - Computer crime and compromised commerce (PDF 285kB)
Matthew L James and Brian E Murray. Australian Parliamentary Library, 2003 - Deceptive and misleading on-line advertising and business practices
Russell Smith. Communications research forum, 2000 - Avoiding share scams in cyberspace (PDF 230kB)
Tim Phillipps. 'Online broking - opportunity or threat' conference, 1999 - Nigerian advance fee fraud
Russell Smith, Michael Holmes and Philip Kaufman, 1999 - Crimes of persuasion : schemes, scams, frauds
- Fraud Watch International (Aus)
- Internet Fraud.com
- Internet Fraud Watch (US)
- Internet ScamBusters
- Internet Crime Complaint Center (US)
- Scamwatch (Aus)
- WiredSafety : scams and fraud
Electronic money laundering
- Money mules
Australian Institute of Criminology, 2007 - New methods of transferring value electronically
Australian Institute of Criminology, 2007 - E + finance + crime : a report on cyber-crime and money laundering
Gyula Zombori, working paper for the Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption, 2001 - Cyberpayments and money laundering : problems and promise
Roger C Molander, David A Mussington and Peter A Wilson. RAND, 1998 - Electronic money laundering : an environmental scan
Solicitor General Canada and Department of Justice Canada, 1998 - Exploring money laundering through emerging cyberspace technologies : a Caribbean-based exercise
David Mussington, Peter Wilson and Roger C Molander. RAND, 1998 - Information technologies for the control of money laundering (PDF 1.2MB)
Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States, 1995
Telecommunications
- Crime xand telecommunications
Peter N Grabosky, Russell G Smith and Paul Wright. Australian Institute of Criminology, 1997 - Prevention of telecommunications fraud
Russell Smith. Australasian head of frauds conference, 1996 - Preventing mobile telephone crime
Russell Smith. Communications research forum, 1996 - Stealing telecommunications services
Russell G Smith. Australian Institute of Criminology, 1996