The Dutch Caribbean Police Force is receiving increasing reports relating to cybercrime in the Caribbean Netherlands
Kralendijk - Kralendijk - The investigation department of the Dutch Caribbean Police Force deals with cybercriminals who digitally attack both individuals and companies and cause damage to their computer system. Various companies and organizations in the Caribbean Netherlands have become victims of cyber attacks by ransomware in a short time.
Hackers then demand money from victims to unlock the system and remove the virus. It is worrisome because large, essential, and vital organizations such as the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten have (almost) become victims of this.
As of April 2021, the Dutch Caribbean Police Force has set up a special cyber team to provide good support for cybercrime in the coming years. Finding the perpetrators proves to be a difficult task due to the global digital capabilities for these types of attacks. Still, the team can support declarants and companies in the process to mitigate the disadvantages. The cyber team of the Dutch Caribbean Police Force is unique in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. It actively seeks (international) collaborations with police forces, organizations, and partners who, in their turn, support us.
In the coming period, the team will also share preventive information with organizations and private individuals in addition to the criminal investigation cases that present themselves. Here you can think of various advice to make your computer systems more secure and to reduce the chance of victimization. If you have become a victim of one of the above-mentioned cyber attacks or have had to deal with other cybercrime offenses, please contact the Cyber Crime department of the Dutch Caribbean Police Force via telephone number 715 8000 or email address cybercrime@politicpcn.com.
- Ransomware: Criminals manage to take over companies' computers in various ways. This includes opening a malicious attachment of an email message, after which the computer is taken over for ransomware. The computer can be unlocked only after paying a certain amount of ransomware, often in cryptocurrencies.
- Cybercrime is a form of digital crime in which internet criminals break into, for example, a computer, telephone, or the entire network of an organization. ICT is the target and the means in this form of crime. The motives of cybercriminals vary, but the impact is generally enormous.
Cybercriminals or hackers come in many shapes and sizes: from individuals to organizations and from activists (hackers group Anonymous, for example) to state groups. In reality, it is often about individuals or collectives who use the internet to protest and mobilize people or to blackmail or partly extort individuals or companies intending to make money. There are different types of cybercrime that both companies and individuals can face. Some variants are Cyberstalking, Phishing, Malware, Password cracking, Identity Theft, Ransomware, and DDoS attack.
