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Joseph Dooley, an FBI supervisory agent, was the main speaker at the September 2002 DACS general meeting. He was accompanied by James Butler, a FBI computer expert on Internet fraud.Both agents generally talked about types of fraud, what to do to avoid fraud and steps to take if one becomes a victim.

As per Messrs. Dooley and Butler, computers are used very often for many types of crimes. One of the challenges faced by the FBI is that evidence must be present. The contents of a computer can easily be corrupted or erased. Messrs Dooley and Butler emphasized that should one discover evidence, it should not be tampered with. Another aspect testing agents is the large size of hard drives, as evidence can take much longer to locate.

Internet fraud is encountered by FBI agents on a constant basis,: such as credit card and identity theft, and telemarketers using the Internet to deceive gullible people with their marketing schemes. As the officers pointed out, if an offer is too good to be true, it probably is. Also they mentioned scams involving sellers and buyers not living up to their words, as, for example, on auction sites. The FBI has a location to report fraud. It is the Internet Fraud Complaint Center at www.ifccfbi. gov. One recommendation from the presentation is to never use a debit card online. Credit cards can be used to make payments online if the site is secured and if the site is a legitimate one.

The main emphasis of the presentation was about the most vulnerable segment of the population-- children, and how they can become victims. Joe Dooley speaks at PTA organizations all over the state, and he was very emphatic on that aspect of the presentation. The Danbury area was reminded earlier this year of the danger of kids falling prey to offenders with the killing of a girl who met her online correspondent and ended up being killed during their encounter. All parents and relatives of children should be aware of the potential dangers of online chatting rooms, game rooms, or via e-mail, etc. etc.

Mr. Dooley said during his presentation that once an image of someone is on the Internet, it can never be recalled. The advice the agent gave was to never post pictures of oneself on a web site. Agent Dooley gave us a description of the typical offender. It is not the bum who scavenges garbage downtown for food or booze, but a middle - upper class white male between 25 to 45 years of age. Joe Dooley also described a typical victim--a boy or girl who could be from a dysfunctional family and in his/her early to mid teens. The signs that a teenager may be in trouble and a possible victim of online predators were mentioned. Agent Dooley then talked about basic safety measures to prevent kids from becoming a victim. He explained what steps to take and what not to do should a child become a prey of online sex solicitation.

I found the presentation very informative and it re-enforced the fact that we should be very attentive to the needs of the youngest members of the online community. During his presentation, Joe Dooley made a passionate plea to the public and most specifically to DACS members to keep kids safe online. It was also a pleasure to have the technical expertise of Agent Butler.