http://australianit.news.com.au/common/print/0,7208,9890733%5E15319%5E%5Enbv...
Australian IT
Police fudge on ID theft: expert
Kelly Mills
JUNE 22, 2004
REPORTS of increasing identity fraud attacks have been exaggerated by law
enforcement agencies seeking to maintain budgets, according to a former
Scotland Yard detective.
Identity fraud attacks, such as phishing, have increased in the past year
as international syndicates target Australian financial institutions.
However, SAS Institute fraud and anti-money laundering solutions director
Rowan Bosworth-Davies, a former Scotland Yard detective and lawyer, says
identity theft is relatively rare.
"I would need more evidence from law enforcement agencies of identity
theft before I got too excited about it," he says.
"It is a sexy subject and you can say what you like and no-one will say
that you are wrong."
Bosworth-Davies says there is a lot of hype around identity theft and a
great deal of misinformation, which he attributes partly to some police
agencies that want to increase funding.
"If someone was living the life of Riley on your credit card, wouldn't you
know within a month, when you got your credit card statement?"
Bosworth-Davies says genuine cases of identity fraud, using stolen credit
card details and other identity documents, are relatively few.
Speaking at the SAS International Forum 2004 in Copenhagen,
Bosworth-Davies was also critical of banks' ability to deal with money
laundering.
Prior to September 11, 2001, there was debate about money laundering, and
if banks had software it was largely developed internally, he says.
In the past three or four years, however, large banks had installed
anti-money-laundering software to comply with new international regulations.
"Leading banks in the UK have adopted new solutions, but it would be less
true in Australia, which has different regulatory drivers."
Kelly Mills attended SAS Forum International 2004 in Copenhagen as a guest
of SAS Australia.
This report appears on australianIT.com.au.
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R. A. Hettinga