Our laws have not caught up with the Twenty-first Century. Our police have not caught up to the Twenty-first Century. Criminals have. There's a whole new layer of criminals in our most-modern world of 2023.
The cyber thief. The cyber criminal. The guy who can slit your bank account. Oh, don't worry, he'll never slit your throat because he never gets that close. He operates from a distance, in a vacuum. He keeps far enough away that the law can neither see nor reach him. Your throat is safe, but your bank account is not.
Do our police even try hard enough? Millions of Americans pour into our stations to file reports of fraud on their ID, and on their financial accounts.
And, way too many times, the "law enforcement" officers turn them away. Nothing we can do, the officers tell them. There simply isn't a way to identify the criminal. There simply is no way to track him down.
Be off with you, dear citizen. There is nothing we can do. Leave us alone. Come back when you've got a rape, or a murder, or something big enough for us to bother with.
I would doubt our officers are even comprehensively trained in how to fight cyber crime. They are taught how to pull a trigger. They are taught who to pull a trigger on, when to pull it, where to pull it, and why.
But they aren't taught the who, when, where, and whys of people unloading your bank account. So, when they are faced with the crime -- which is every day -- they throw up their hands in despair.
Sorry, we can't help you.
If law enforcement is going to catch up to the Twenty-first Century, we must do better -- and can. Simple things to start with. Things our police are already doing but not doing enough. The police do these things to some extent, but not enough.
1) Establish how the crime was committed. Was it online? What are the ways they could have stolen your identity? The police officer should have a checklist of ways criminals steal identity, and go down them one at a time. Did anyone ever call you, saying they were with the bank, or with Microsoft, or with the FDIC? Did they suggest someone was trying to steal your ID or your money? Phishers, we call them. They take your ID in the name of protecting your ID. Did you ever leave your ID on the table, or someplace where someone could get it? Did they use Bit Coin or PayPal? Who did they use for their middleman?
2) Establish your leads and initial evidence. If there is a record of the transaction, get it. Banks always have a history of deposits and withdrawals. Those records will tell you much about how the money was transacted. Did you get a letter from a creditor? Get a copy of it. Do you have any suspects? Were there potential witnesses? If a family member or a roommate could have been committed the crime, it means there might be another family members or roommate who might have insight into what happened. Get a copy and list of what personal information the criminal had to provide to open the credit account, or bank account. You know it is going to include your social security number and address, but there are at least two other things that can turn into big leads: What phone number did they put on the application? What email address? Is there a record of which bank officer approved the transaction or opened the bank account? Get a credit report, as it can shed light on the case.
3) Commence your investigation. You are not at the end, but at the very beginning of the investigation. This is where your job begins. Follow each lead, Interview each potential witness. Interrogate (if I can use that word) each suspect. Speak to the bank officer who approved the application or transaction. Check back with the victim, asking if he or she has thought of or run across any other evidence? Trace down the phone number used on the application. Who currently has it or who has ever had it? Call the phone number. Contact the email address used on the application. No stone unturned, they often say in the law enforcement world. It should be no different. Do everything you can to solve the crime. Do your due diligence. Cover all the bases. Do your job.
It will be helpful if the police officer is trained in computer technology and in how to trace down phone numbers and email addresses and IP addresses. She or he should be trained to know what all the numbers and columns of information on a bank report mean.
It will be helpful if the banks keep good and precise information on the transactions, including a list of people who worked on the transactions, so the police can interview them. Every detail that can be kept of the transaction should be kept and recorded. It will also be helpful if there is a free flow of communication between the bank and the police. The police should always contact the financial institution. But, it should not be a one-way thing, with the police contacting the financial institution, but never the bank reaching out to the police. Frankly, it should be a law that upon hearing of fraud on one of their accounts, the bank is required to contact the police and pass along all the evidence they have.
Which brings us to another point. I started by saying our laws need to catch up to the Twenty-first Century. They do. We need to give our officers the tools they need to solve the crimes. We need laws that say the banks, and the stores with credit accounts, and the middlemen such as PayPal and Bit Coin, and even the three large credit agencies -- they all must provide any information the police request. And, they must keep better records. They must be able to trace down and account for anyone who transfers or receives money. And, if they don't? Jail time or a large fine. If this means fewer transactions can be carried out through the Internet, so be it.
Cyber Security is an intimidating word. But rather than running from cyber crime, we must march out to meet it.
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