A new Web of crime to untangle

Criminals who possess supernatural powers most often appear in movies or in comic books. Some real-life offenders, however, are vanishing without a trace.

These criminals, despite their colorful nicknames, aren't supervillains who have sprung to life from Superman's rogue's gallery. They are hackers, pirates and cybercriminals who use computer technology to steal money, commit fraud, invade private records, conduct industrial espionage and engage in information warfare.

The FBI has teamed with agencies across the state to form the Nevada Cyber Crime Task Force to fight this new crime wave.

"It isn't an area that law enforcement really realized the tremendous potential for these crimes," said Jim Farnan, assistant special agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI office. "At the same time that this invention (Internet) has been a tremendous advancement, it's still sometimes used by people for illegal activities.

"A creative thief or crook can almost use the Internet or a computer to enhance any activity from stealing software to stealing someone's identity or personal information."

Getting organized

The task force was mandated by the 1999 Legislature to investigate the growing number of computer-related crimes and to lay the framework to combat the problem. In February the task force moved past the nascent stage and is working on cases, Executive Director Tara Shepperson said.

The FBI, Metro Police, Reno Police, Washoe County Sheriff's Department, U.S. Postal Service and Internal Revenue Service are among agencies represented.

"Everyone is a little behind when it comes to what can be done with computers, but the task force gives us a chance to pool the state's resources on a federal and local level," Shepperson said. "The very nature of computers and the Internet means there really isn't separate jurisdictions anymore, so the coordination aspect is extremely important."

The task force provides authorities with an easy means of contacting those with cybercrime expertise at the local, state and federal law enforcement levels. Another goal is to start tracking Nevada cases by using the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, a national clearinghouse for complaints and possible computer-related crimes.

The center, up and running a year ago, allows victims of cybercrime to file complaints online at ifccfbi.gov. Authorities can use the site to identify trends and process complaints, some of which can be farmed out to different agencies.

Metro Police Detective Steve TaFoya of the fraud detail, who works with the task force, said he has worked with the unit on three cases. All involve network intrusions.

"We recognize that this is an emerging area and a growing problem that we are trying to adjust to with the advent of things like the task force," Farnan said. "Especially in this state, we have some rural areas that could never address these issues because it is manpower- and training-intensive. With this task force, everyone is now on the same sheet of music.

Crime soars

According to the 2001 Computer Crime and Security Survey, compiled by the Computer Security Institute and the FBI, the number of cybercrimes and the cost to victims is growing.

The report, based on a survey of 538 computer-security practitioners in U.S. corporations, government agencies, financial institutions and universities, states that nearly 85 percent of respondents have detected computer-security breaches in 2000.

Of the respondents, 186 said that they lost more than $377 million in computer-related crimes, up from $265 million in losses reported by 249 companies and agencies in 1999. The average annual losses from 1996 to 1998 were $120 million.

In response to statistics such as these, the FBI established the National Infrastructure Protection Center, a joint partnership that involves federal agencies and private industry, in addition to the task Force.

The Internet has become the primary tool for computer-savvy offenders, said Alan Peters, an FBI special agent who helps run the task force. The Internet can be used for committing fraud with illegal gambling, business opportunity schemes, bogus websites, network intrusions for extortion and scams involving auctions and e-commerce.

"These crimes cross all borders and aren't limited to traditional white-collar crime," Peters said. "It's every type of crime imaginable, and they can all be facilitated in some way with a computer."

On May 23 the FBI and the Justice Department announced that criminal charges have been brought against 90 individuals and companies as part of a nationwide series of investigations -- Operation Cyber Loss -- into Internet fraud.

The fraud schemes involved more than 56,000 victims who suffered cumulative losses in excess of $117 million. Many of the cases were initiated via complaints made to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center.

No borders

Computer crimes can be committed against Las Vegans from anywhere in the world. A potential criminal needs only a computer, modem and Internet access.

"There are no borders when it comes to this kind of crime in Nevada, and there's really no borders around the world," Farnan said. "When we were dealing with a lot of illegal telemarketing, we could shut down a location where there was a room full of people making calls. Now, one person with a computer can create a website and wait for the public to come buzzing around like bees to honey."

Online auction scams are a good example of how cybercrime can victimize a person who feels safe tapping on their home computer's keyboard, Farnan said.

The FBI is still searching for a man with Nevada ties who allegedly conspired to fraudulently bid up the price of a fake Richard Diebenkorn painting on the auction website eBay. An eBay user was induced to bid more than $135,000 for the fake, an FBI spokesman said.

Kenneth A. Fetterman, 33, in a 16-count indictment was charged with Internet auction fraud and has been on the run with Stateline resident Terri Ann Galipeaux, 45, since early March, the spokesman said.

Another cybercrime case currently being tried in federal court in Seattle involves a pair of Russians who allegedly broke into the computers of an American Internet company. The two are charged with sending e-mails to company officials demanding payment in exchange for the duo's promise not to distribute or destroy confidential documents, including financial records.

The FBI set up a fake Internet company to lure the Russians out of hiding. Agents arrested the pair on charges of computer extortion, fraud and hacking. Each charge carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The FBI, through the National Infrastructure Protection Center, is also active in pursuing those who are use computers as tools for terrorism.

"Besides the fraud and schemes there is also the chance that someone could get into systems and shut down water supplies, subways or commit other acts of terrorism," Peters said.

Evidence

A crime committed with a computer is tougher to track than everyday street crimes.

"We call it computer forensics," TaFoya said. "One of the biggest concerns we had here was that last year we had about 800 computers seized, and probably less than 1 percent were getting processed. We had them all sitting in the evidence vault while these cases and charges were pending."

Since then Metro, through the use of a $16,000 grant, has purchased and has begun operating a computer program -- Encase -- that allows officers to easily process information on seized hard drives.

"It allows us to recover hidden and deleted files and helps make them certifiable for court," TaFoya said. "Encase goes over every byte on the hard drive and gives them numerical matches so that we know exactly what is on there."

How long it takes authorities to recover a suspect's computer is a factor, as well, Peters said.

"Timeliness is paramount for us because something can be deleted or removed from a computer very quickly," Peters said. "A communication over the Internet may only be on a computer for a couple days."

Finding evidence on a hard drive is something that authorities had to learn, Farnan said. "It's not like you have a gun with smoke coming out of it," Farnan said. "We're talking about bits and bytes logged somewhere in the memory of a computer."

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