Chris Van Gass
19 July 2007
Cape Town — Scams using spy software downloaded from the internet will become the "cyber crime of the future", Supt Jerome Hardenberg of Western Cape's commercial branch of the South African Police Service predicted yesterday.
Hardenberg told a media briefing that two cases of this sophisticated scam had already been uncovered where WIN-SPY software was downloaded on public computers, at internet cafe s, and activated when specific information that could be used to commit fraud was monitored.
Hardenberg said the software installed on computers could log all the details and work processed on the specific computer.
Hardenberg said "soft spots" where the new type of cyber crime could be committed included internet cafes, airports and any other places where the public had access to computers.
He warned users not to make banking transactions on computers in public places.
Hardenberg's warning came as Western Cape's commercial crime unit launched an all-out information campaign to thwart burgeoning commercial crime in the province, especially electronic crime.
He said the unit had also bolstered its resources to target sophisticated crime syndicates that syphon off millions of rands from unsuspecting victims in the province through e-crime, by obtaining account information through sophisticated devices such as card swipers that can record the details of 200 to 10000 cards daily. These swipers are used mainly by criminals committing ATM fraud.
Other devices used are key loggers that clip onto computers and record data which is later skimmed and used to illegally transfer money electronically.
While no specific numbers of victims or amounts involved will be disclosed by the unit, provincial director Andre Van Dyk says electronically generated crimes are reported on a daily basis and involve amounts from R5000 to R500000.
Hardenberg said the WIN-SPY programme acted as a key logger and could identify certain key words, like the names of banks, which activated the software which then recorded all the computer actions of a particular user.
Hardenberg said the "spy" software was so sophisticated that the person who illegally downloaded the programme on a particular public machine could even protect the results by using a password -- and even access that information remotely.
Apart from cyber crime, Hardenberg said, there were other commercial crime problems against which the police were acting.
These included "identity theft", where the personal details of credit card holders were obtained nefariously and used to commit fraud. He warned that credit card users should never let credit cards out of their sight.
Other problems included cheque theft, with the stolen cheques then being altered fraudulently.
Hardenberg said police had identified certain post offices where such fraud was more prevalent than elsewhere and had alerted the institutions.
ATM fraud was also increasing and gangs operated in the Cape Town area, often targeting tourists. He said no person should entrust anyone else with their electronic PIN numbers.
Another fraud on the increase was a "refund scam", where syndicates deposited cheques into the accounts of companies, then sent them false faxes claiming to represent the SARS, Telkom or Eskom and asking that they refund the money "urgently".
"Don't refund money in such cases unless you establish it is legitimate. Speak to your bank, check telephone numbers.
"Criminals use pay as you go numbers logging up to R10000 worth of calls giving an indication of how much business they do."
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