Police officials have reported an increase in the amount of counterfeit US currency in circulation, a technical challenge that has contributed millions of dollars to the big business of cyber crime.<\/P><\/p>\n
Over the past several weeks, United States Embassy officials have admitted seeing \uff93more than a few good and not-so-good\uff92 counterfeit $100 bills on the streets, in part because of unsuspecting Bahamians.<\/P><\/p>\n
US Charges d\uffb4Affaires, Robert Witajewski has pointed out that this may be the case considering that as a prime vacation destination and financial centre, The Bahamas welcomes tens of thousands of tourists weekly, who are occasionally not as vigilant as they should be.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93The best thing is for Bahamians to be vigilant,\uff92 he told the Bahama Journal Monday. <\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93If you have any doubts about a (US) currency that someone is trying to give to you, go to a bank and see what they say about it. People are being defrauded out of billions of dollars a month. The invention of the computer and the laptop has made it easier for criminals to do their activities and to defraud and cheat on unsuspecting, honest people.\uff92<\/P><\/p>\n
The United States earlier this year released a mass circulation of several new notes including the $50 and $20 bills.<\/P><\/p>\n
The new $20s are peach-toned with blue ink, making it the first time in almost 100 years that the U.S. note has prominently contained a color besides green and black. They also contain an embedded vertical plastic strip and color-shifting ink. A new $100 bill will be introduced in 2005.<\/P><\/p>\n
According to the US Federal Government, the change in color is designed to stop counterfeiters.<\/P><\/p>\n
In the meantime, officials of the U.S. Justice Department, the Attorney General\uffb4s office and local law enforcement officers are determined to address the issue during an intense three-day workshop aimed at combating economic fraud. <\/P><\/p>\n
Held at the Wyndham Nassau Resort & Crystal Palace Casino, the course is designed to introduce participants to current international trends on financial systems fraud, specifically as they relate to financial institutions, credit cards and money laundering. <\/P><\/p>\n
Participants will examine the trends in electronic crime using computers and telecommunications fraud with a particular emphasis on current international schemes.<\/P><\/p>\n
They will also be presented profiles of emerging financial criminals and the implications for both The Bahamas and the United States.<\/P><\/p>\n
But according to Acting Commissioner of Police, John Rolle, today\uffb4s use of more organized and sophisticated methods would ultimately translate into a much greater challenge for law enforcement officers.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93On the internet, it is easy for a criminal to create a fictitious identity to perpetuate frauds, extortions, counterfeit and other crimes,\uff92 he said. <\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93Since many computer crimes such as trading pirated software of child pornography can be committed entirely on-line, this mystery can significantly complicate an investigation.\uff92<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Rolle added that the Internet\uffb4s borderless nature only further compounds the problem, as a cyber criminal anywhere in the world could victimize individuals and businesses.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93The tremendous power of today\uffb4s computers makes it possible for a single cyber criminal to do a staggering amount of damage, damage beyond what a single person could typically do in the traditional criminal world,\uff92 he pointed out. <\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93For example, a sophisticated cyber criminal can release a virus or launch a denial of service attack affecting hundreds of thousands of computer users or critical infrastructures like power grids.\uff92<\/P><\/p>\n
While there are no exact figures on the cost of cyber crime in The Bahamas, officials estimate the problem to contribute to billions of dollars in damages.<\/P><\/p>\n
Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal<\/B><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the internet, it is easy for a criminal to create a fictitious identity to perpetuate frauds, extortions, counterfeit and other crimes,” says Acting Commissioner of Police, John Rolle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}