FBI fights cybercrime rise
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Hawai’i office established its first cybercrime squad this year, responding to what investigators are calling “explosive growth” in computer-related crimes. FBI Director Robert Mueller recently said that nationwide complaints increased 300 percent last year to 48,000. And Hawai’i had the second-highest per-capita number of computer-fraud complaints in the country in 2002. “Whatever a criminal can think of doing in the flesh-and-blood world, he or she can more than likely do in cyberspace,” said Honolulu Detective Chris Duque, lead cybercrime investigator for the white-collar crimes division at the Honolulu Police Department who has worked closely with FBI agents and other federal law enforcement agencies for more than a decade. Mueller has pledged a robust cyber division at FBI headquarters and has created 60 specialized cyber squads around the country. The FBI’s O’ahu-based squad was created in January. Full Story