National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

customers. Customers must be on the lookout for fraudsters and must ensure
that their computers are properly secured and remain that way. The level of
direct and indirect losses incurred by private individuals and companies in
the Netherlands is unclear.
5.5.6 Crime-related factors and expectations
Nowadays an increasing number of people have a PC with Internet access and
a broadband connection. PCs with this type of connection are ideal for Internet
criminals to include in a botnet. People in the Netherlands are shopping online
and using Internet banking facilities to an increasing degree (66% and 72% of
people respectively in 2007). The number of credit card payments is also still
increasing. With credit cards there is the risk that criminals will obtain the card
details and use them to place orders and make payments. To prevent misuse, the
business community has developed initiatives such as PayPal and iDeal to make
payments more secure. However, PayPal turns out to be vulnerable to phishers
as well. With iDeal consumers pay directly online at their own Internet banking
site using two-factor authentication. The government and the banks are running
campaigns to raise the public’s awareness of the lack of security on the Internet
and the need to secure their home computers.
It is not only consumers who have difficulty finding out who sends or receives
information, investigating agencies have similar problems. Clues often lead
via various links to possible criminals in other countries, which means that
investigations are time‐consuming. Internet criminals do not have to worry
about communication problems, arranging the necessary authorisation and
technical tools. On the contrary, they benefit from the speed and anonymity
of the Internet. More attention is currently being paid to the fight against
ICT-related crime. The National Crime Squad at the KLPD has set up the High
Tech Crime Team. This team also carries out investigations into phishing.
Technological developments are increasing the number of options for phishers.
Whether the method involves WiFi, VoIP, SMS, smart phones, multiplayer online
games (MMOGs) or Instant Messaging (IM), more and more routes are being
created for fraudsters to use to rob people of their identity details. Spy phishing
will be increasingly used in this process because it is then no longer necessary to
mislead digital users into disclosing their details since the details are intercepted
by malware without the user noticing anything. The classic form of phishing will
occur less and less frequently, partly because Internet users are becoming
increasingly aware of the existence of misleading emails. Malware will probably
be designed in an increasingly advanced and specific manner. If misleading
tactics are still used, the expectation is that they will also become increasingly
200 National Threat Assessment 2008 – Organised crime