The South Australian Police (SAPOL) has launched a new division which will focus on investigating cybercrime and financial fraud.
Cybercrime has become a major focus for the SAPOL and increasing demand has been made for investigational capabilities to help tackle it, the department said.
Its new unit, Financial and Cybercrime Investigation Branch (FCIB), has a team of 90, which includes 13 new positions. The staff include forensic accountants, digital analysts, and expert investigators.
The team has already begun work and taken control over sections previously held by the Commercial and Electronic Crime Branch.
This restructure came after an extensive review of SAPOL’s response to financial crime and saw a need for change.
FICB will incorporate sections including Cybercrime Investigation, Digital Evidence, Confiscation, Forensic Accounting, Intelligence and the Serious and Organised Financial Crime Investigation.
Alongside the investigational and analytical work, the new unit will also put emphasis on intelligence and crime prevention.
Assistant Commissioner Scott Duval said, “It’s about positioning SAPOL for the future and the growing trend for phones, devices and computers to be used to facilitate crime or used to assist in a crime.”
The dedicated Cybercrime Investigation section will offer an investigation team and crime prevention capability to respond to the rising levels of cyberattacks.
Superintendent Paul Yeomans will be the officer in charge of the new branch. He said there will be a focus on training, crime prevention and community engagement in the area of cybercrime.
“We know that prevention is the best option with regard to scams – when the money is filtered overseas we have little chance of recovering it, so our aim is to stop that offending occurring,” he said.
Cyberattacks are a major problem all around the world. A recent study from Deloitte found that a cyberattack could be carried out from as little as $34 and yield returns of up to $25,000 a month. Also found in the report was that if spending is increased to $3,800 a month, an attack could net returns of $1m.
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