As the coordinator of the Jasper Victim Services Unit, Paul Schmidt is on call at all hours of the day, ensuring that someone is always available to console and assist victims of tragic accidents and crimes in Jasper National Park. In this monthly column, Schmidt will talk about some of the issues he sees. He won鈥檛 speak for victims, but will address the issues from a victim services perspective, drawing on his years of experience in the field.
Cybercrime refers to any crime that involves a computer and a network, with a computer either being used in the commission of a crime, or as the target of a crime.
The crimes that can be committed with a computer are diverse and target a variety of victims. In this column, I鈥檒l address a few different kinds of cybercrime.
These crimes are very difficult to solve because perpetrators often manage to remain anonymous.
In some instances, computers are used to lure children, with conversations that begin online on any multitude of public sites.
Since I am not the most tech savvy or hip guy when it comes to social networking, I Googled it, and found a list of 43 social networking sites鈥攖oo many to name here鈥攚here personal information is聽 shared.
Some have obvious dangers like Snapchat, where it may seem like images only appear for a moment, but once sent, recipients have the ability to take a screen shot and share those photos anywhere they please.
This is a particularly difficult crime as a child鈥檚 trust can be gained by an unknown person who may be lying about any aspect of what they want or who they are.
Sometimes, even when the truth comes out that the offender is a different age than they originally claimed, a child will continue to talk to them because they already have a perception of friendship.
These shared images are a great danger to our youth, and the shame of sharing the images falls squarely on those who are posting them on public sites.
Our children need to be warned of these dangers. They need to know that once an image is sent from a phone or computer, it cannot be taken back, and that some people鈥檚 intentions are sinister. As safe as our community is, we are all vulnerable to these criminals.
Non-delivery of merchandise is another common cybercrime. In an isolated community like Jasper we often order online from sites like eBay, Amazon and Craig鈥檚 List. But, sometimes the seller proves to have other intentions, taking a customer鈥檚 money and failing to deliver the item in return.
These crimes are complicated to solve because the perpetrators often have multiple names and bank accounts, and may be in other provinces or countries, making it difficult for the police to track them down.
Confidence scams are another kind of cybercrime where a victim is deceived by a con artist who claims they need assistance to get out of a bad situation. In some cases, a con artist will ask for money and even promise to pay back the loan, but that money and the person who took it will never be seen again.
Unfortunately, electronic harassment has also become a common issue. Even in adult life, schoolyard bullying has not come to an end, as many people send threatening and hurtful messages to coworkers, friends and acquaintances.
In our resort town, where real connections are sometimes hard to find, this type of harassment can be extremely hurtful.
Blackmail and identity theft are a couple of other Internet based crimes that we see. The computer can essentially be used in committing all sorts of crimes that were previously done in person. Once these individuals get ahold of personal information, they create an array of problems for the victims, from trust issues with online friends, to lost time and money to get their identity back, to difficult decisions on what to do with virtual threats that have real life consequences.
Beyond those examples, in Jasper we also see victims of hackers, phishing scams and copyright infringements.
Although we鈥檙e isolated from a lot of things in our Jasper bubble, we need to be aware of these opportunistic crimes.
For more information, please contact Jasper Victim Services at 780-852-2275 or [email protected].
Paul Schmidt
Special to the 51暗网
In next month鈥檚 installment of Jasper Victim Services Perspective, Schmidt will address elder abuse.
