Romanian cybercriminals better organised to fight authorities

“Cybercrime is like any other scam you pull in the real world,” says Varujan Pambuccian, chairman of the IT&C Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.

The damages caused by Romanian hackers worldwide amounted to an estimated 2 – 4 million dollars, according to officials with Romanian institutions specialising in fighting cybercrime.

The attacks from the Romanian “cybercriminals” have further implications beyond the financial realm, Varujan Pambuccian stated. “Two million dollars is not that much, but we have a lot to lose in terms of image.” Numerous e-commerce websites have halted transactions to clients from Romania following several such attacks originating in this area. Still, the Romanian officials feel that many of those who commit such crimes are very far from being computer wizards.

“Seventy percent of the total electronic frauds committed by Romanians consist in precisely these scams,” says Virgil Spiridon, head of the Cybercrime Unit of the Organised Crime Fighting and Anti-drug General Department. He explained that most cases were not complex operations, which would entail a lot of effort on the part of the perpetrators. “There are very few real hackers in Romania,” Varujan Pambuccian stated.

The direction Internet fraud is taking is not in the least bit reassuring as far as the authorities are concerned. “The shift towards organised cybercrime is becoming increasingly obvious. Whereas we were dealing with lone criminals at first, we are now facing very well organised networks,” says Ioana Albani, a prosecutor with the Cybercrime Unit of the Prosecutor’s Office within the High Court of Justice and Cassation. She mentioned a recent case involving approximately 50 people as an example in this regard.

FBI data from 2001 placed Romania as the fourth most dangerous country in terms of electronic fraud. It is hard to say whether this position has changed at present, but in any case, Albani explained that “we are talking about an increase and diversification in Internet fraud”.

This institution has seen more than 100 people charged with electronic fraud brought to justice last year, Albani stated. Six cases ended in final convictions (that is, exhausting all avenues of appeal) in 2002-2003, which involved about 30 people, she specified.
mihai.musatoiu@zf.ro