North Yorkshire's latest Internet crimefighter is only a week old, but already he's helping turn the tables on the high-tech criminals. STEPHEN LEWIS reports on how DERIC is shaping up

WITH Internet crime - as with most other forms of crime - the criminals are often one step ahead of the authorities and the punter in the street when it comes to exploiting new technology.

The world wide web is such a sprawling, international mishmash of connections and links it is notoriously difficult to police. And since anyone with a bit of training and a PC at their disposal can knock up a website at the drop of a hat, the opportunity for criminals to cheat punters out of their hard-earned cash is always there.

It's probably one reason why, despite the massive growth in use of the Internet for everything from chatting, game playing and business to education and cyber sex, some consumers are still remarkably reluctant to trust it for online shopping.

About 40 per cent of the adult population of the UK now has access to the Internet, according to North Yorkshire Trading Standards - yet only about 16 per cent have used it for e-shopping. Self-confessed Internet shopping addicts like tennis star Serena Williams are still the exception rather than the rule.

Concerns about credit card fraud, worries over giving out personal information on the Net, doubts about whether websites are genuine and even the simple fact of not being able to see goods before buying are key factors in why many people still fight shy of doing their shopping online, despite the obvious advantages in terms of convenience and choice.

Those are real concerns, admits Richard Flinton, assistant head of trading standards at North Yorkshire County Council. And for too long trading standards authorities like his own have been playing catch-up with the criminals and fraudsters, unable to provide the kind of protection for the consumer they would really like.

DERIC may be about to change all that.

The Digital Evidence Recovery and Internet Crime (DERIC) unit, to give it its proper name, is basically a lab at North Yorkshire's trading standards HQ that is stuffed with the latest high-tech computer surveillance and tracking equipment.

As reported last week in the Evening Press, DERIC is intended to finally give trading standards officers the technology they need to take on the Internet cheats at their own game. "It's the first step in the catching up process," explains Mr Flinton.

What DERIC does is enable trained officers to retrieve all kinds of data from computers seized in the course of investigations - data that might help them to secure a conviction, such as dates, names and records of deals. There is even a mobile kit officers can take with them when executing a warrant, so seized computers can have their memory chips read on site.

Trading Standards officers will also in future be able to trace rogue websites, to find out who set them up and where, and haul those responsible before the courts. No longer will the cheat be able to hide behind an anonymous, untraceable website.

Officers will even be able to help consumers who have bought computers under false pretences - by proving, for example, that the computer advertised as having a five gigabyte memory actually has nothing of the sort.

Things like processing speed, hard drive capacity and memory size on computers are all important when it comes to making a sale, Mr Flinton points out. "And people will lie and cheat about them."

Now, if you buy a computer under false pretences, you just may have redress.

To help them in their new, high-tech work, trading standards officers working out of DERIC will be able to draw upon the help of experts from Hull University - meaning that at last they should have all the expertise at their fingertips that they need.

The best thing of all, however, is that DERIC basically provides a national service - so there is nowhere in the country the Internet criminals can hide. Set up with the support of the DTI and the North of England Trading Standards Group, it will offer its services to trading standards departments, other enforcement agencies and even private companies across the country for a small fee.

There have already been requests for DERIC's help from outside North Yorkshire, Mr Flinton says - and all the signs are good.

"It is still very early days," he admits. "But we believe we are going to see real benefits."

Updated: 09:47 Thursday, March 21, 2002