[clug] July CLUG Programmers' Special Interest Group meeting (follow-up)

[Adam Baxter]

CERT seems to back up these ideas, but with an earlier date.

"The first trend is that organized crime groups use the Internet for
major fraud and
theft activities.

Perhaps the most notable example of this – albeit an unsuccessful
one – occurred in October 2000 and concerned the Bank of Sicily. A group of
about 20 people, some of whom were connected to mafia families, working with an
insider, created a digital clone of the Bank’s online component. It
then planned to
use this to divert about $400 million allocated by the European Union
to regional
projects in Sicily.

The money was to be laundered through various financial
institutions, including the Vatican bank and banks in Switzerland and
Portugal. The
scheme was foiled when one member of the group informed the authorities.
Nevertheless, it revealed very clearly that organized crime sees enormous
opportunities for profit stemming from the growth of electronic banking and
electronic commerce."

http://www.cert.org/archive/pdf/cybercrime-business.pdf