1997 Conference Archive

8-11 July 1997
Brisbane, Queensland

Crime prevention in the digital age
(PDF 82kB)
Russell Smith
Australian Institute of Criminology

Abstract
This paper considers how best to regulate the provision of telecommunications so as to minimise opportunities for the commission of fraud. In order to illustrate the nature and extent of the problem, the paper focuses on three areas in which telecommunications systems have been misused to enable fraudulent activities to be carried out: first, telemarketing, secondly, the provision of telephone services and finally, the transfer of funds electronically.

The paper provides a brief description of the ways in which fraudulent activities in each of these areas have been perpetrated, an estimate of the extent of the problem and an analysis of the various crime prevention strategies which have been adopted and which could be used in the future to control the proble