The Writers Voice
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Internet crime and The Credit Card
by
Clive Michie
In the year 2001, an investigation in to child porn Called Operation Snowball uncovered 250,000 people world wide through credit card numbers. There where 2,300 discovered in Canada and as of January 7 – 2003, 42 people had been arrested. In England 1,300 where arrested in the same period.
Det.-Sgt. Paul Gillespie, who works with Toronto's sex crimes unit, says police in this country simply don't have the resources to properly investigate these kinds of crimes. Matthews says these people used credit cards to access sites specifically geared towards child pornography.
OK… If credit cards are the means by which these evil one’s support the horrific abuse of children around the world then maybe it is time for the credit card company’s to take responsibility for these crimes or at least do the right thing by canceling the holders credit card. A quarter million people could have had their cards cancelled immediately but they where not.
It was just a month ago when I started receiving e-mail’s that said your message could not be delivered. Because of the amount of E-Mails I send out to new writers and other various organizations to promote the Writers Voice I wanted to know who it was originally sent to. It was not a person I had sent mail to so I viewed the source and found html code and no address that I could follow. I did how ever notice that there where code calls for pictures (.jpg) from URLs I could follow. So I pasted it in to the address bar on my browser and had a look.
I found deals on software that where too good to be true. Imagine being able to buy Microsoft’s server software normally worth $4,999.99 American and I can buy it for $60.00. Adobe and other software packages where also available for $60.00. So I E-Mailed the people that owned the rights to this software and received the ear of a Microsoft security tech. I received E-Mail from Microsoft in 15 minutes; about the time it took them to notice the mail and hand write a response requesting I phone them. After a long chat with the tech on the other end of the landline he assured me he would send it to legal.
I think that what this operation was trying to do was set up a spam server to get the message out fast when they decided it was time to release the address to get their bootlegged software out. The ad said that the software would be sent with out the package or books as all OEM disks are sent. I noticed that at the bottom of the page was a Paypal link that I followed to see if it was a link to Paypal.com or a fraudulent link. It was the real McCoy and I could not help but think here we go again. It seems to me that Internet crime requires the use of a credit card.
So does the taxpayer pick up the tab for this type of crime on the Internet or do we find a way to fine/penalize the credit card companies for allowing the criminals to receive their ill-gotten gains? It seems to me I have never found a scam on line that had a mailing address to a business or office/home. New crimes require new approaches. I believe that crime on the net of this nature is directly related to the use of credit cards and that something must be done and done fast.
Child pornography on the Internet would not be as available to the criminals/perverts with out the use of the credit card.
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