EMail Scams and the FBI -- darned good question jdf

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 11:35:13 -0500
From: Bob Frankston <rmfxixB1 () bobf frankston com>
Subject: EMail Scams and the FBI
To: dave () farber net


It’s interesting see Microsoft and SCO offering a reward of $500,000 
between them to track down the creators of the latest pestilence. I wonder 
how much that compares with the RIAA’s budget.

In the meantime there are many email messages being sent that are carefully 
designed fraudulent letters that try to get people to reveal their 
financial information and I haven’t seen any indication of police work to 
track down those miscreants. I presume it requires international 
cooperation. Yet all I read about are the attempts to crack down and people 
who make unauthorized copies of CDs.

I don’t want to pick on the music industry in particular, but I wonder why 
such a lack of focus on people doing direct harm to many people vs those 
who reduce the profitability of an industry whose skill is PR.

Am I missing something­is there really a police effort to track down those 
committing fraud as well as those using email for DDOS attacks? Or is the 
total budget a half a million dollars spent on reward posters?

Is it like the days when the FBI chose its targets with a keen eye to PR 
value? Is today’s policing focused the loudest fears rather than pervasive 
crime?


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