Last Updated on September 7, 2020 by SCARS Editorial Team

SCARSSCARS SCARS - Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. A government registered crime victims' assistance & crime prevention nonprofit organization based in Miami, Florida, U.S.A. SCARS supports the victims of scams worldwide and through its partners in more than 60 countries around the world. Incorporated in 2015, its team has 30 years of continuous experience educating and supporting scam victims. Visit www.AgainstScams.org to learn more about SCARS.™ Advocacy: Local Law Enforcement Everywhere Needs CybercrimeCybercrime Cybercrime is a crime related to technology, computers, and the Internet. Typical cybercrime are performed by a computer against a computer, or by a hacker using software to attack computers or networks. Specialists On Staff – Help Stop ScamsScams A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime -  is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost.

LOCAL CYBERCRIME LAW ENFORCEMENT NEEDS TO MODERNIZE

SOLUTIONS DO NOT ALWAYS NEED TO BE COMPLICATED

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In today’s exploding cybercrime world almost no local police agencies have any real experience, knowledge, or professional staff dedicated to cybercrime law enforcement or to help the victims of cybercrime (scams) understand the real situation or what law enforcement’s role is in it.

Every scamScam A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime -  is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost. victim – especially romance scam victims understand what the experience is like when they reported the crime to their local police. In many cases, they were misunderstood, and in other cases, they were viewed as willing participants. This is simply a lack of professional dedicated cybercrime officers with complete training and understanding of these crimes.

This is not complicated. This petition is intended to change this in the United States and to be a model for the rest of the world.

CybercrimesCybercrimes Cybercrime is a crime related to technology, computers, and the Internet. Typical cybercrime are performed by a computer against a computer, or by a hacker using software to attack computers or networks. are the fastest growing segment of criminalCriminal A criminal is any person who through a decision or act engages in a crime. This can be complicated, as many people break laws unknowingly, however, in our context, it is a person who makes a decision to engage in unlawful acts or to place themselves with others who do this. A criminal always has the ability to decide not to break the law, or if they initially engage in crime to stop doing it, but instead continues. activity worldwide and it is anticipated to pass USD$6 Trillion dollars in just two years!

We are asking for a one-time USD$250,000 in U.S. Federal funding for each police agency which serves more than 50,000 residents in the United States to be able to add a dedicated cybercrime department (cybersquad) to their agency – beginning with local Sherrif’s Departments.

Currently, only a handful of jurisdictions have such a department. The most notable and publicly supportive is the unit in Puerto Rico. Not even most State Police agencies have this.

This is both about cybercrime law enforcement AND about supporting victims that come forward to report these crimes – both individuals and businesses. Today the average victim is more traumatized by their reporting experience and the lack of uniform understanding of these crimes that most police departments have.

Local law enforcement can play a vital role in helping victims both feel supported through the reporting process and gain access to financial resources that are available to them, but many of these crimes have a nexus within the United States that must be explored and reported up the ladder to state and federal authorities. Yet most local police today do nothing more than take a report – and even then only when forced.

Today most local law enforcement does not really understand cybercrimes and scam at all – unless individual officers have been touched by scams they view this is not a serious crime. A dedicated local officer(s) and department are needed with proper subject matter expertise and training to help both victims and the cybercrime investigative process.

This is a simple request. SCARS believes that a Federal Grant of USD$250,000 will pay for a professional cybercrime specialist to be hired with a specified cybersecurity background and training, as well as fully conformant crime victims’ assistance training to assist these dual roles of law enforcement and victims advocacy through the reporting and investigative processes. (This is very similar to what has been developed for victims of sexual assault.)

This would allow for the hiring of one to two full-time professional cybercrime officers and equipment and training sufficient to fully understand their mission to investigate where appropriate and support victims through this process.

If we can enact something as simple as this it would result in far more accurate reporting of cybercrimes since today less than 5% are fully reported to law enforcement and Federal Authorities.

The financial impact of this project would be approximately USD$1 Billion ($770 Million to provide for all 3,081 Sharrif Departments alone). We recommend Sherrif’s Departments first, and then an annual program to expand to municipalities working down from the largest to the smallest after that.

We are petitioning the U.S. Federal Government who controls law enforcement grant funding to address this issue and to include it in their next annual budget under the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation which is where most Federal Cybercrime Investigations now reside.

THIS PETITION WAS CREATED AND IS AUTHORIZED BY THE SOCIETY OF CITIZENS AGAINST RELATIONSHIP SCAMSSCARS SCARS - Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. A government registered crime victims' assistance & crime prevention nonprofit organization based in Miami, Florida, U.S.A. SCARS supports the victims of scams worldwide and through its partners in more than 60 countries around the world. Incorporated in 2015, its team has 30 years of continuous experience educating and supporting scam victims. Visit www.AgainstScams.org to learn more about SCARS. INC. A REGISTERED INCORPORATED NONPROFIT NONGOVERNMENTAL CRIME VICTIMS ASSISTANCE ORGANIZATION. VISIT WWW.AGAINSTSCAMS.ORG FOR MORE INFORMATION

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SCARS™ Team
A SCARS Division
Miami Florida U.S.A.

 

 

TAGS: SCARS, Important Article, Information About Scams, Anti-Scam, Petition To Stop Scams, Local Law Enforcement, Cybersquad, Cybercrime Department, Local Scam Support For Victims

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