Fighting Fraud: A call to arms...

You could try your nearest bobbies, but the chances of them understanding the crime are slim. Even if they do, it's not going to be their number one priority.

How about the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS)? Not everyone's heard of them, but they have in the past got involved in these cases - but again, unless we're talking about a multi-million pound sting, it's not going to the top of their agenda.

The High-Tech Crime Unit opens for business today. It's a start, but insiders reckon there will be some distinctly unhealthy competition between it and NCIS. As a brand new body, it will try to grab the headlines with a few high-profile busts. It's unlikely to be interested in the travails of the little man or woman on the virtual street who is defrauded of a relatively small amount of money.

How about your insurance company? Or the Financial Services Authority? The list of possibilities goes on, with most of us none the wiser.

So silicon.com is launching a campaign to create one, single body which covers the whole gambit of online crime. UK consumers and businesses need a central resource, providing information about it and a central point of contact to which they can report it should the worst happen.

The lack of information out there is a major issue. Cybercrime is certainly going unreported. One survey put UK online fraud at £7m per year. We reckon that's way too low - but this campaign isn't about scare-mongering. It's about reassurance.

People fear the unknown: 95 per cent of us believe we'll fall prey to an internet fraudster. If we had accurate figures about who's doing what online, and had one organisation we could talk to, that fear would be assuaged.

There shouldn't be any kind of stigma attached to being the victim of cybercrime, and yet there is. One aim of the campaign is to remove this sense of embarrassment. These things happen: we want to educate people to make sure they don't, but make it easy for action to be taken if they do.

silicon.com has already secured some heavyweight support for this Fighting Fraud campaign. We'll be unveiling the details over the next two weeks.

We want ebusiness to succeed. Do you?

Have you been the victim of cybercrime and had difficulties reporting it? Do you think the body we're proposing would be useful? Email any thoughts you have on the matter to editorial@silicon.com.

The full Fighting Fraud manifesto can be found here: http://www.silicon.com/a43887