NORWAY – Police Det. Don Turmenne has a warning for businesses and computer owners.

“Don’t give out any information about your computer,” Turmenne said. “We tell the elderly not to give out their Social Security numbers. Well, this is the same thing. Don’t give out any information about your computer or computer system.”

He is issuing the warning because in June a Main Street business was contacted by a person purporting to offer them a technical upgrade. He said the company was duped into changing its password and then the caller gained enough information from the system to make long distance phone calls. Turmenne said calls were made to several locations in the Middle East and other places totaling about $1,500.

Turmenne called the Maine Computer Crimes Task Force, but doubts that they can help because the business owner dumped and reloaded his system, meaning the evidence was most likely destroyed.

He said he talked to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Computer Crime Task Force in Boston and was told that computer crime is so prevalent that the loss must be at the $5,000 level before they will look at it.

Turmenne said the police department has received three similar complaints on computer crime this month.

“Technology is out-pacing our law enforcement training,” Turmenne said. “Norway detectives and patrolmen aren’t going to be able to get inside your computer. We don’t have the technical knowledge or equipment.”

He said phone services such as AT&T, Sprint and MCI are not going to absorb the losses in such crimes.

“It’s a wicked playground for people who know what they’re doing,” Turmenne said.

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