Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB) and the French National Police jointly hosted a two-day conference, "E-Crimes Without Borders - E-Crimes Sans Frontieres", at Police Headquarters on September 17 and 18. Designed to tap expertise from both Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions, and presenting knowledge in a global context, the conference was the outcome of the regular liaison between CCB and the French National Police on the increasing problem of "E-Crime".
Acting Director of Crime and Security John Ribeiro and the Director of International Co-operation Department, French National Police, Mr Emile Perez, officiated at the opening of the conference and welcomed a wide cross section of professionals from both the public and private sectors. The 100-odd participants, coming from 19 countries and territories, included law enforcement, technology and telecommunications experts as well as prosecutors.
"E-Crimes" now take many forms and is an increasing problem for law enforcement, regulators and private sector organisations throughout the world, transcending international borders. Indeed, as of June this year, there were 511 cases of corporate email fraud, just one type of "E-Crimes", representing an increase of 202 per cent since 2012. In this context, the conference was able to present the topical issues of the subject and address the challenges faced by both law enforcement and the private sector in combatting the problems.
At the conference, speakers from Interpol, local and international police forces, academics and various Government and private sector organisations brought out in a series of workshops the issues, problems and challenges posed by the criminal activities in cyberspace throughout the world and the subsequent laundering of the proceeds of many of such frauds.
The main themes that linked all presentations were the essential and continual collaboration and co-operation between law enforcement and the private sector, targeting of new trends and the need for a more global-centric view of legislative issues and problems.
At a separate press conference, Mr Perez said there were no "e-victims in this type of crime, only real victims that could be individuals or companies". There were no borders any more and law enforcement needed to adapt its methods to the fight against the crime, he added.
Enhancing liaison and co-operation among law enforcement, regulators and the private sector continues to be an essential part of the fight against the global issues of "E-Crimes" and this remains one of the priorities of CCB.
Speaking at the close of the conference, CCB Chief Superintendent Chung Siu-yeung said the problem of "E-Crimes" could not be addressed in isolation and that international collaboration was essential. The conference was designed to help foster an environment of support, collaboration, and development or enhancement of a framework of assistance among the relevant organisations.
As a result of the conference, existing partnership was strengthened and new partnership was developed. With the sharing of knowledge and experiences at both policy and working levels, this type of engagement would help CCB address the increasing worldwide problem of E-Crimes".
