Technology crime | Western Australia Police

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How to report technology crime

If you believe you are the victim of any form of technology crime please email full details of the incident to the WA Police Assessments Officer at Technology Crime.

Include your full name, address and contact information to enable follow-up action.

Advance fee fraud

These financial scams promise a large monetary return for a small investment. Typically all advance fee fraud scams ask their victims to send money internationally using a money transfer service such as Western Union or Moneygram.

Can I get my money back?

If you are contemplating sending money overseas to a person you have only had contact with via the internet please be aware there is little to no chance of your money being returned to you.

There are no recorded cases, in any jurisdiction, of a person actually receiving their promised financial windfall as a result of one of these scams.

Do not send any money internationally to people you don't know.

Typical examples of these scams include:

Inheritance/beneficiary scams
Lottery scams
Investment proposals
Internet dating (romance) scams
Accommodation/rental scams

If it sounds too good to be true it probably is!

No one is going to transfer 20 million dollars to you if you pay the fees (which will be never-ending)
That luxury apartment in the city advertised for $250 per week really does not exist.
And yes, that's right, you really did not win 10 million pounds in the British Lottery!

See WA ScamNet for more information about advance fee fraud and scams currently targeting Western Australia.

Hacking

Computer hacking is a criminal offence in Western Australia. Hacking is when an offender uses a restricted access computer without the consent of the computer's controller.

For hacking to become an offence, some form of restriction must be present on the computer to prevent any person other than the computer's lawful controller from accessing the data on it. This restriction is often a user name and password access.

If no restrictions are present, then no criminal offence of computer hacking has taken place, in Western Australia.

Help for home users

Many reports of home user hacking are the result of a user inadvertently downloading a virus or trojan to their computer.

Before you contact police…

If you believe your home computer has been unlawfully accessed please follow these steps before reporting it to police:

Install or update reputable virus protection software
Run this virus protection software over all drives of your computer system
Have a qualified and reputable computer technician examine your system to determine:
How access was gained to your computer system
Who gained access to your computer system
What was done to your computer system when it was accessed

Get a report from this computer technician detailing evidence of your computer system being unlawfully accessed and provide this when you make a report to police.

Spam

In Australia, spam is 'unsolicited commercial electronic messaging' that offers or advertises the supply of goods or services, land, business or investment opportunities.

Spam is a simple and low cost method to reach large numbers of consumers. Spammers often buy mail lists from people who have harvested addresses from websites or news groups.

The Spam Act

Under the Spam Act 2003 it is illegal to send, or cause to be sent, 'unsolicited commercial electronic messages' that have an Australian link. A message has an 'Australian link' if it either:

originates or was commissioned in Australia; or
originates overseas but has been sent to an address accessed in Australia.

Australian legislation - the Spam Act 2003 - came into affect on 11 April 2004 and is enforced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

Stalking (online) & Cyber Bullying

If you believe you are the victim of online stalking or cyber bullying please report full details of the incident to Technology Crime and an officer will contact you to discuss the matter.

Webmail and social networking

This generally includes free webmail services such as Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail and social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

Typical complaints received about these services are from users whose accounts were compromised and they lost access to their accounts.

The only way to regain control of a compromised account is to liaise with your provider. They will ask you to validate your identity by providing details used by you when creating your account.

Safeguard your account

Ways to safeguard these services can be found on each provider's website, they include:

Using strong passwords – include numbers, capitals and symbols in any password
Using a second strong password as an answer to your secret question
Not sharing passwords or access to your accounts with anyone.

Wireless networks

Secure your wireless network

If you use a wireless access point to connect to the internet you must put measures in place to secure it.

An unsecured or unencrypted wireless network advertises itself to everyone within range and allows them to access your internet connection to download anything from movies, games and all types of pornography.

Follow the instructions provided in your user manual for your wireless access or seek professional guidance to secure your network.