Cybercrime: Victim Support and Recovery

Anderson: According to the FBI, cyberattacks are the fastest-growing crime in the US. Cybercrime affects more than just businesses and government. In 2018, nearly 60 million Americans were impacted by identity theft. Hello, and welcome to "Comcast Newsmakers." I'm Tetiana Anderson. Joining me to talk about this is Rachel Dooley. She is the Chief Marketing Officer for the Cybercrime Support Network. Rachel, thank you for joining us.

Dooley: Thank you for having me here.

Anderson: So, let's start with the basics. What is a cybercrime?

Dooley: A cybercrime is a crime that takes place over the Internet. It could be a romance scam, identity theft that took place online, to cyberbullying or cyber harassment.

Anderson: So, we're talking about financial losses from this of, I think it was, $7.2 billion or $2.7 billion.

Dooley: $2.7 billion was reported to the FBI IC3 Internet Crime Complaint Center last year. Was $2.7 billion, and that is just what was reported. Anderson: Yeah, exactly. Not a lot of people are reporting, but why is that?

Dooley: Why is it? I believe -- We believe, and what we see is, a lot of people don't know how to report. They don't know that those reporting systems are out there, especially with the IC3. And some people don't even know that they were a victim of a cybercrime, so those are another facet that kind of to educate people on how the cybercrime and that narrative is involved in your incident and then also how to report it.

Anderson: So, this is where the Cybercrime Support Network comes in. Explain to us what it is and how exactly it works. Well, the Cybercrime Support Network was an initiative started by our founder and CEO, Kristin Judge, in 2017. She, a long time ago, realized that cybercrime victims didn't have a one-stop shop or where to go to get help. And there was this very big, huge, missing gap that we talk about security and preventative measures, we talk about data breaches. But what happens to the individual or even that small business? Where do they go? How do they pick up the phone? And if you were to go out there and look around on the Internet, you would find wonderful resources but never real direction. So that is why Kristin started the Cybercrime Support Network.

Anderson: So, like, when you have some sort of physical crime against you, you can call 911, right? That's pretty simple.

Dooley: Yes.

Anderson: But you guys are instituting something similar for cybercrimes. Tell us about that.

Dooley: Yes. So, through our partnerships with our partners in United Way, there is a 211 infrastructure, where, in most states across the country, you can pick up the phone, dial 211, and receive health and human resources. With that, we are integrating a cybercrime line. We launched in Rhode Island on May 13th, which was amazing, with our United Way Rhode Island partners and Congressman Jim Langevin, to where, if you live in Rhode Island, you can now call to get support for cybercrime. And the support specialist that is trained on that end will then diagnose the crime, help you report the crime, and will also transfer you to 911 or other specialists that can help, if that crime is for that.

Anderson: So, you guys have something, in addition, called -- you refer to it as the three R's -- report, reinforce, and recovery. And I'm wondering, at this stage, how realistic the recovery aspect of that] is for these financial crimes.

Dooley: The recovery aspect, it varies, and that is the honest truth. And the jurisdiction and how the money is lost. Because it could be from a gift card, and unfortunately, if you were to purchase a gift card and pass it on, that money cannot be recovered. So there is -- You know, the recovery of gaining those back is very difficult, but it can happen. But what we need to do is to let people know that in the reporting, and the more data that the FBI can collect, that they could possibly be able to help other people in the future not fall for these crimes, by taking out the perpetrator.

Anderson: And what about the "reinforce" aspect of that. What does that mean?
Dooley: The "reinforce" aspect is, at this time, people will then learn more about cybersecurity and different tools, like creating -- using two-factor authentication, which is a huge thing -- making sure, when you log in, you create another -- to get a code to log in. Instead of just a long password, you implement two-factor on all of your accounts. Good passwords, using VPN, not using public Wi-Fi all the time. And it's just kind of a good time to talk to people about cybersecurity, after the incident has occurred.

Anderson: So, I know that this is new. You just kind of unrolled the first step of this in Rhode Island, and it's going to be going to other states. Where do you see all of this going, and what's the sort of response been, even though this is in its infancy? Dooley: The response has been tremendous. We have support from partner organizations, Comcast, so many people knowing that this is a need. And we have -- We do launch in Central Florida and West Michigan later this summer as other programs. But in the meantime, you know, we just keep pushing the response. People want to report. We've done studies, and people want help, and they're ready to do so.

Anderson: So, a lot of this, you said earlier, it's about education. Where can people go to find out more about what you're doing and the resources that are available to them?

Dooley: Well, right now, you can go to fraudsupport.org, which is our website, that will walk you through, after an incident has occurred. So, you can go, you can pick "incident -- hacked device," "hacked e-mail account," and we'll walk you through the steps you need to take to do some immediate action and recovery and how to report it, all online. So, even if we don't have the 211 available in your area, you can go to fraudsupport.org and find these important steps of what you need to do and refer back to it. Anderson: Valuable information. Rachel Dooley, thank you. Dooley: No, thank you so much for having me.

Anderson: And thank you for joining us, as well. For more great conversations with leaders in your community and across the nation, be sure to visit comcastnewsmakers.com. I'm Tetiana Anderson.