Who to call for cybercrime

After discussing and researching laws pertaining to cyber crime this week I wanted to dive a little deeper on what an individual can do to get help if they are victims of a cyber crime.  Banks and financial companies are generally able to return money to individuals rather quickly, but as for prosecuting the perpetrators, this is a much tougher process.    Thankfully I have never been victimized, but I know those who have and have seen their fruitless efforts to contact the local and federal law enforcement agencies.  The local police are not trained properly, and the perpetrator generally doesn’t live within their jurisdiction.  The federal law enforcement agencies have more capability to catch cyber criminals, but an individual losing money in a scan just isn’t high on their list.  This article from the Huffington Post highlights this scenario quite well.  In the article Mike Sena, president of the National Fusion Center Association, an organization that represents state and local intelligence centers around the country, recalled a case in which a California business was the victim of a cybercrime and lost $40,000. Sena said the theft wasn't great enough for the federal government to take up the investigation, and there was confusion about where to turn at the local level.

Things look pretty bleak for the individual.  If reimbursement of stolen funds doesn’t happen through the financial institution or other service, then there is little hope of seeing restitution through law enforcement.  This is not to say that things aren’t improving, because they are, I just think we are a long ways away from being able to feel confident that cyber crime will be prosecuted at a level close to that or other crimes.  The Secret Service, who I didn’t realize was a key player in combatting cyber crime, is doing positive things to track down cyber criminals and proliferating advanced techniques to local agencies.  From the Electronic Crimes Task Forces homepage”:  While the Secret Service leads this innovative effort, the agency believes in partnerships with strong emphasis on prevention and education, in addition to traditional law enforcement measures. The task forces provide a productive framework and collaborative crime-fighting environment in which the resources of its participants can be combined to effectively and efficiently make a significant impact on electronic crimes.”

I do applaud their efforts here, they seek to establish a solid framework of education and training to help local law enforcement agencies tackle cyber crime.  I think that is the appropriate solution here; establishing more competent agencies at the local level.  If $40,000 isn’t enough to move the football at the federal level, I must have a mechanism to combat this injustice at the local level.