英譯概念：Technological crimes
【明報專訊】In the first eight months of 2022, the police received reports of more than 14,000 crimes related to technology, rising by about 40% from the approximately 10,000 cases in the same period last year. These crimes caused a total loss of about $2.04 billion, an increase of about 6% from the approximately $1.93 billion in the same period last year.
According to the website of the police force, most technological crimes are similar to traditional crimes, the only difference being the fact that technological crimes are committed using computers as a medium. Common types of technological crimes include commercial emails, online shopping, online dating, social media and online banking. They also include illegal access to computer systems, computer ransomware attacks and online naked chatting for extortion.
In response, the police have launched a search engine called "Scameter" on the "cyberdefender.hk" website. The public can enter information they find suspicious, such as social platform account names, payment accounts, phone numbers and email addresses. The search engine will then check the information, use a 4-color scheme to indicate the risk of fraud and cyber security, and provide anti-fraud tips. The colour red means that the input information is related to scam reports, thus carrying high risks. Orange means that there are similar fraud reports, so the information carries medium to high risks. Yellow means that the information might be a "trap". Purple means that there are no recorded incidents associated with the information, but users still need to stay vigilant.
Mock examination question
With reference from the source, suggest ways the government can assist citizens in preventing technological crimes.
(6 marks)
(1)Developing an anti-fraud application
The government can develop an anti-fraud computer application to protect the public from technological crimes. In technological crimes, scammers mainly take advantage of the carelessness of the victims. In order to enhance public awareness of prevention, the police have launched a search engine called "Scameter" on the "cyberdefender.hk" website. Whenever the public receive a suspicious call or shop online, they can enter the suspicious social platform account names, payment accounts, phone numbers, emails and other information to view the relevant information.
(2)Amending the law
The government can help protect citizens against technological crimes by amending the law. At present, the "Trade Descriptions Ordinance" does not require merchants to provide contact information, identity, company address, etc., making it difficult for consumers to recover their losses. To solve this problem, the government can amend the law and require social platforms with online shopping functions to strengthen supervision. It can also force merchants to disclose identifiable information so as to prevent online shops from using the anonymous function of online platforms that makes it impossible for consumers to investigate.
(3)
Strengthening public education
The government can equip citizens with the knowledge to prevent technological crimes by strengthening public education and publicity. It can, for example, publicise different types of online crime cases, provide information security advice, reminds the public to update anti-virus software, change their passwords regularly and avoid downloading programs from unknown sources.
(本刊刊出的文章若提出批評，旨在指出相關制度、政策或措施存在錯誤或缺點，目的是促使矯正或消除這些錯誤或缺點，循合法途徑予以改善，絕無意圖煽動他人對政府或其他社群產生憎恨、不滿或敵意。)
[智學公民 第045期]
