Fiji Police Determined To Fight Cyber Crime

The Fiji Police Force is facing a new challenge in cyber crime - to fight out white-collar crimes. According to Acting Police Commissioner SSP Romanu Tikotikoca, there are more reports of electronic crime coming to their Economic Crime Division and they now require expert help to locate these criminals, reported Fijivillage on February 25, 2007.

As the phenomenon of identity theft threatens everyone, people need to be more aware, vigilant and less trustful. It is possible to prevent the growth of cyber crime by understanding where, how, and why anybody fall victim to identity theft.

The Fiji Federal Police has summoned their Australian counterparts who have responded favorably to investigate cases of Internet fraud in the different ministries and organizations across the country.

The Fiji Police, on its part, is training more of its officers to be able to detect and abort cyber crime, said Tikotikoca.

They have also solicited the services of two federal police officers from Australia to help them with investigation of over 120 cases of fraud, according to Tikotikoca. The Fiji police have identified four companies in the country that are involved in the cases and the services of the two officers would be a great support. The cases are awaiting completion after the inputs from forensic experts and computer specialists come in, added Tikotikoca.

The Acting Commissioner said that the Fiji Police thinks there will be assistance from foreign experts in efforts to eradicate Internet crime from the country. He said that cyber crime was on the rise starting from the fraudulent activities in 2000 and 2001 that swapped huge amounts of money.

Crimes on cyberspace include fraudulent e-mails, all types of phishing scams, and websites that disguise as legitimate business and entice people into divulging their personal information. People can protect themselves from falling victims by not clicking on links in e-mails to browse websites. Instead, type it manually on the browser. They should also deploy security packages of anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall on their systems.

To protect themselves from identity theft, users should use strong passwords and ensure the security of websites before providing personal details.

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» SPAMfighter News - 3/7/2007