Bart Henderson is a leading forensic auditor and CEO of Henderson Solutions, an enterprise risk management firm.

Recently, the body of a young man from Cape Town was found in Khayelitsha. Olwyn Cowley, from Brackenfell, was killed after trying to sell his BMW to a man who responded to his ad on Gumtree.

The Internet is littered with crime. Type in the words “Facebook Murderer” in Google, hit search and dozens of pages appear; and so does the fact that violent crime is a constant, real and present danger.

It’s not only violent crime that is a problem on the net though, fraud is also rife. In the space of one day, I’ve had requests for assistance from Dublin, London, SA and Pakistan, from people needing help to confirm suppliers, trace their purchases, or payments in SA.

These transactions involve millions of rands.

Then there are the real sad stories of people caught in advance fee frauds – often the unemployed – desperate enough to pay “administrative fees” for non-existent jobs.

Dating sites are another story. Whether a serial killer is out there targeting gay men in Gauteng hasn’t been answered yet.

What’s patently obvious is the fact that there is a new wave of crime brought on by modern technology and communication.

What’s also patently obvious is that crimes perpetrated by means of modern technology are on the increase, and alarmingly so.

In South Africa, in particular, we are seeing a massive up-tick in online crime, with victims reporting from all four corners of the globe.

The question that must be asked is how we protect ourselves from the old predators using this new technology to pull off their crimes?

Is it enough for companies to put up disclaimers and warnings for users? Invariably, these disclaimers and warnings are small enough so as not to distract from the positive message and spin most legitimate businesses put out.

What are companies and government doing to proactively address this modern challenge?

Is it enough for us to send out an e-mail or an sms from time to time warning users of a particular scam as it rears its head and the prospect of contingent liability emerges for a corporate?

What about the effective enforcement of law in the majority of online crimes?

A vast number of online crimes go unreported and where a user encounters an online crime, for the most part, he or she has no convenient mechanism to report it.

The Internet is a loaded gun, but policing these crimes on the Web is another story entirely. Many countries do have sophisticated, effective and efficient law enforcement and policing agencies. However, even in those countries policing is an uphill battle. In SA, this is almost non existent.

The climate exists in SA where most fraudsters and online predators can function with relative impunity.

The Internet poses a significant threat to our citizens’ safety and security and the Internet is increasingly causing reputational damage and risk to our country.

The status quo cannot be maintained. Our responses to mitigate the threat of online fraud cannot continue in such a haphazard and fragmented manner. We cannot continue to bury our heads in the sand and leave it up to the next man to deal with.

My question is: what is government, and in particular law enforcement, doing to fi ght online crime?

Why do we not have integrated strategies to combat online crime, why don’t we have awareness training for everyone in a company about the risks and pitfalls of online business dealings or social networking?

How come a corporate hasn’t taken the time and the money to work with the relevant stakeholders to produce a DVD, or some form of presentation for employees to watch and take home and give to their kids to watch about the pitfalls of the Internet?

Many, if not most, of the fraud reports we get are from people who are either entrepreneurs or gainfully employed. I often find myself wondering how these people find themselves conned so easily on the net.

Well, it’s easy because most people aren’t expecting to be ripped off. Most people believe people are inherently good.

Most people aren’t trained to be suspicious and most people aren’t qualifi ed to spot the fakes. Most people on the net are there for the huge benefit the Internet offers and not to search out crooked sites and crooked companies.

It’s about time we accept that most people on the net are potential victims of a crime and that a vast number of people who have used the Internet, or even have an e-mail address have had an attempt made at some stage to scam them.

As crimes go, online crime is probably the most prolifi c of any crime anywhere in the world today. It stands to reason that our responses should be commensurate with the threat, but it’s not.

The perception is that Internet fraud is generally “soft crime”.

Tell that to the hundreds murdered, abducted and raped by online predators.

Catch a wake up people.