Police alarmed by rise in cyber fraud
Date: February 18, 2004Source: Daily Nation on the web
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Banks all over the world are exposed to cyber criminals. Especially nowadays computer crimes in the banking sector are on the rise. Fraudsters aplly various methods and ways to swindle owners of bank accounts and credit cards.
Banks had lost millions of shillings to computer fraudsters, he said.
"Though some of the frauds have gone without being reported, experts have estimated the losses run into millions of Kenyan shillings," Mr Nyaseda, police commissioner, told the fourth meeting of the Interpol African Working Party on Information Technology Crime at Lenana Mount hotel, Nairobi.
Mr Nyaseda said: "I have noted with concern the ever-increasing 4-1-9 type of frauds in my country. The attacks on the banking sector by computer fraudsters have been devastating."
Police say that in the 4-1-9 type of fraud, fraudsters approach individuals saying they had discovered huge amounts of money stashed in a bank account of a dead individual. The target is asked to provide the his/her bank details to facilitate the transfer the money in his/her account. They then ask the victim to provide money to finance the transfer. Those who fall into the trap end up being conned.
Mr Nyaseda also cited lack of trained security agents, the transient nature of computer data and the ever-evolving information technology world as some of the challenges facing cyber crime investigators.
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