MARK ALDRIDGE
Political & civils rights advocate, animal lover & state co-ordinator for the Australian Federation Party
WHERE ARE THE ONLINE POLICE?
With the onset of cyber space bringing with it a raft of online scammers and a new bread of criminals, where is our protection?
The ACCC has become a toothless tiger in regards to our ever growing white collar criminals, if the economy goes up so do our interest rates, if we are given a pay rise, then the oil companies want a share…lol
So while the real criminals with in our country have a free reign, and our police services are busy raising revenue, whom is policing the Internet?
Most of us regularly inherit several million dollars a week, from Teddy the barrister, others have been scammed by the IQ tests that send the results to our phone, resulting in $100 in unwanted phone charges.
There are ebay scammers, that sell what they don’t have, buyers that have the money to buy your car, but need a western union transfer of a few hundred before you receive many thousands. On line casinos that with-hold your winnings, and poker sites that allow scammers to hack your chips, so they can sell you more, seemingly all go on their merry way with out coming under any scrutiny.
Cyber Crime has become huge, whether we are the victims of identity fraud; the supposed winners of a new plasma screen or over charged by a service provider the pit falls are never ending.
Rather than our government addressing these issues they seem to prefer to join and scam what money they can from our hip pockets.
Nasty bikers, Hoon drivers and Grandma doing 7kph over the speed limit are not the source of all our problems by any means, yet they seem to wear the brunt of our government’s hard line on crime.
I have personally endured dozens of attempted and some successful scams and fraud over the past year alone, yet in every case my complaints fell on deaf ears.
The Question begs, if I alone endure so many, how many times does each of us loose money to these unscrupulous activities each and every year?
A picture is no longer worth a thousand words, just ask any Ebay buyer, if it is too good to be true, it is not. It has become a situation that with in our busy lives we must read the fine print, protect our selves as those employed by us to do the job, have their own interests at heart.
We must learn to protect our own interests, guard our information and mobile numbers with our lives, shed the whole concept of trust in favor of protectionism, pay for only that which we can hold, supply only when we receive payment, and fight when we are misused, no longer should we pay for others mistakes or wrong doings for it is those that should pay.
Fight the unwarranted fine or defect, chase the unpaid debt, and be cautious with your precious information and hard earned money. With the government s eyes solely focused on the money, we have been left to fend for ourselves.
I will continue to call for an independent review of our online services, and the implementation of a Cyber security service (CSS) and continue hoping that our supposedly elected representatives take on the role of protectionism that they are employed to ensure for us all.
Mark M Aldridge
Independent Candidate for the Legislative Council
08 82847482 / 0403379500
P O Box 1073 Virginia S.A. 5120