City of Grand Rapids issued the following announcement on March 5
The Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) is partnering with Cybercrime Support Network (CSN) to help victims of cybercrime through the Heart of West Michigan United Way’s 211 hotline. Through the initiative, individuals who have experienced a cybercrime – a crime that involves a computer and a network – may call 211 to get immediate help from a trained professional.
Cybercrime and online fraud can happen to anyone. The partnership will help individuals address such issues as fraud schemes, hacked accounts and identity theft. It also will assist small businesses with malware attacks, data breaches and website intrusions. The initiative provides services geared toward young and older adults, caregivers and military personnel.
CSN’s vast resources and dedicated and knowledgeable team of professionals who are trained to address complex crimes are among the reasons GRPD has entered into this partnership. This expert knowledge often results in better outcomes and greater community satisfaction.
"The partnership between the Grand Rapids Police Department, Cybercrime Support Network and Heart of West Michigan United Way is an excellent example of how collaboration can work in law enforcement,” Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Payne said. “With identity theft, frauds and scams on the rise, this is another tool we can use to help individuals who have experienced these crimes. It gets victims the resources they need and helps repair the damage done by cybercriminals.”
Cases that originate out of the area, where there is no suspect information or where there are no leads will be directed to 211. Police officers still will be dispatched to any cyber-related crime where there is an immediate threat to life or property or any incident involving children. A police employee will continue to take complaints where there is an investigative lead or a local connection for follow-up purposes.
CSN is a nonprofit collaborative effort that helps victims of cybercrime nationally and provides resources for cybercrime reporting and recovery. FraudSupport.org, powered by CSN, is a resource database for cybercrime victims and law enforcement to report, recover and reinforce after an incident occurs.
Cybercrime can affect anyone, and scammers are always creating new ways to target victims. For example, victims reported losing $143 million to romance scams in 2018, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Also in 2018, more than 350,000 complaints from individuals and small businesses were filed with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center for monetary losses of more than $2.7 billion. The top three crime types reported in 2018 were non-payment/non-delivery, extortion and personal data breach.
CSN partnered with Heart of West Michigan United Way to implement the local cybercrime support hotline using grant funding from the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime Vision 21 program in West Michigan.
Original source can be found here.
Source: City of Grand Rapids
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