Issue link: https://let.epubxp.com/i/286869
9 www.officer.com April 2014 Law Enforcement Technology CYBERCRIME I n these days of secure e-commerce, why go out when you can rest easy in the comfort of your home and have just about anything in the world delivered to you? That was no doubt the mindset of the millions of shoppers perusing goods on the now infamous website Silk Road—one of the many clandestine marketplaces of the "deep web" that matched buyers interested in things like opioids, cocaine, MDMA and "biotic materials" with drug distributors and suppliers. On October 2, 2013, Ross William Ulbricht, alleged by the FBI to be the owner of Silk Road and ultimate- ly "Dread Pirate Roberts," was arrested in San Francisco on suspicion of drug trafficking, facilitating computer hack- ing, and money laundering. But it went deeper than that. Ulbricht was also charged with solicit- ing murder when he was alleged to have communicated with an undercover agent to have his website administrator tortured and killed in order to recover funds stolen from users. Homeland Security Investigations' (HSI) website claims approximately $3.6 million in bitcoin were uncovered through the course of investigation, and estimates the business processed $1.2 billion worth of business and earned commissions totaling 600,000 bitcoins, or about $80 million using current bit- coin rates at the time of the seizure. More criminals are taking their com- merce online, to somewhere far beyond the world of license plates, social secu- rity numbers, Federal-stamped dollars, and state and local jurisdiction. 'Online' is a vast place that promises lots of anonymity, as well as eager collectors and coconspirators. There is little in the way of a paper trail in these cases, and hardly anyone around to recall a face. Scott Schober, President and CEO of Berkeley Varitronics Systems and cybercrime expert says "Cyber crimi- nals…usually have money as a motive for their crimes, and a lot of times they have a lot of patience. They don't need the money instantly in their hand, they may wait. If it's identity theft it may take Circle 15 on Reader Service Card "I wish street crime went down with the increase of crime online but of course it doesn't. It's just another mechanism for criminals to hide behind." — Eric Feldman, unit chief of cybercrime with the TSA LET_08-11_Cybercrime0414.indd 9 3/20/14 9:03 AM