The country is under threat by the growing incidence of cyber crimes, Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade said yesterday.
So far this year, banks alone have seen a net loss of over $25 million due to cyber crimes, Assistant Superintendent Michael Edgecombe revealed. That figure does not include people who have been individually targeted, he said.
Greenslade said cyber crime is perhaps the fastest growing type of crime in the world.
"There are significant emerging threats from persons who seek to illegally collect and utilize the personal information of individuals locally and abroad," said Greenslade during the National Training Symposium of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner at the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort.
"There are no boundaries that limit the reach of these 21st century criminals who have a multitude of faces. We have arrested some of them before and we will arrest them again. We are going to seek to prosecute and we are not going to offer any apologies for that."
While he did not provide figures for The Bahamas, Greenslade said it is estimated cyber crimes cost the United States government in excess of $388 billion a year.
"Notwithstanding the successes that we enjoy today, our country is open to a myriad of threats from criminals and the criminal organizations who are engaged in cyber crimes, white collar crimes, identity threats, intellectual property crimes and many iterations of criminal conduct," he said.
According to statistics presented earlier this year, white collar crimes nationwide resulted in the loss of over $11.5 million from various businesses and unsuspecting Bahamians last year. More than half of the $11,508,229 ($6,592,256) was misappropriated through the 138 fraud cases recorded last year.
Another $746,567 was stolen by reason of service. The remaining amount was stolen through other illegal means.
There were also scores of forgery cases which did not result in the loss of money. Superintendent Paul Rolle said the police force is concerned about child pornography and the growing incidence of defamation through social media web sites.
He said officers have gone through the necessary training to detect such crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice. Rolle said the police force has established a cyber crime lab which has also helped it with criminal investigations.
Greenslade said the police force will also work with the data commissioner to address the issue. He said 13 officers were trained last year in how to deal with high tech and Internet-related crimes.
Prime Minister Perry Christie also acknowledged that cyber crime is becoming a great concern.
He said he is pleased therefore that there was police and criminal justice cooperation at yesterday's symposium.
Three industry experts were honored at the symposium, including NIB Director Rowena Bethel, former Data Commissioner George Rodgers and Rolle, who now heads the Central Detective Unit.
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