Computer Fraud

At a basic level, computer fraud is the use of computer systems to perpetrate a fraud.

In many cases, the computer has replaced manual records, and the fraudulent input document has been substituted by manipulating data held in a computer system. This manipulation does not need to be sophisticated. The dramatic erosion of clearly segregated duties in different locations to people in the same office with different user ID and passwords on the same PC means that a forged payment instruction may be approved simply by logging on to a computer with a stolen supervisor's logon.

At the other extreme, the use of the Internet and e-mail with "sniffer" programs to capture user's passwords and credit card details can only exist because of the global explosion in the use of networked computers.

Many industries will be at risk from a specific type of computer fraud, but by reducing the crime to its basic elements - input, manipulation, and output -the investigator should be able to identify the likely culprits, the methods of manipulation, and the means of conversion or diversion of funds.