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Surrey RCMP chief focuses on cyber crime

Asst. Commissioner Bill Fordy says technologies are creating new opportunities for criminals
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Surrey's Officer in Charge is concerned over the increase in cyber crime being seen across the globe.

SURREY — Surrey’s Officer in Charge was the subject of an attempted fraud this week.

He revealed as much during a speech at a Surrey Board of Trade luncheon on Thursday.

Fordy said he received an email at work claiming to be from Revenue Canada.

The issue, he noted, “doesn’t get reported often in the media” and is an “emerging” and “significant” problem across the globe.

From fraud to extortion to drug trafficking, cyber crime has many forms, he said.

Technologies have created new opportunities for criminals, Fordy noted, and cybercrime requires new ways of policing.

“When I started policing my peers and I would get out of our cars, we would talk to people, get to know the people in our city that were committing crime. Internet has not license plate for us to check,” he remarked.

Fordy is a member of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, which is advancing resolutions to deal with these matters.

“We need to investigate a crime in a virtual world…. Ultimately there needs to be a balance between privacy and the ability of law enforcement to investigate online crimes and advance prosecutions,” said Fordy.

SEE ALSO: RCMP plans new cybercrime investigative team

RCMP launched a cyber crime strategy last December. Click here to read more.