U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft reported that federal law enforcement authorities are investigating 125 cases of online crime involving the theft of more than $100 million. Launched in October, "Operation Cyber Sweep is the largest, most successful Internet investigation undertaken by law enforcement to date," Ashcroft said.

He said the investigations involving an array of federal, state and international law enforcement agencies have already resulted in 125 arrests or convictions, and investigations into additional suspects continue. The types of crimes being targeted involve identity theft, investment fraud, software piracy and counterfeit product fraud.

"Law enforcement faces the challenge of adapting and outthinking Internet criminals and online abusers," Ashcroft said. "So we are upgrading our capacity to make the World Wide Web a safer place by using the combined resources of federal, state, local and international law enforcement agencies."

The Information Superhighway should be a conduit for communication, information and commerce, not an expressway to crime. It is a top federal law enforcement priority to stop crime on the Internet.

That is why the DOJ has announced Operation Cyber Sweep, the most productive, coordinated law enforcement operation that law enforcement has ever conducted against online crime.

Ashcroft was pleased to note that a number of major corporations and trade associations have been strong supporters of Operation Cyber Sweep. The success in combating cyber-crime depends on the alliance between law enforcement and the private sector to share information that identifies and roots out cyber-schemes of all types.

Pretection and it's clients can play a big role in fighting online crime and aiding intelligence offices in this fight. Due to the professionalism and expertise of Pretection in online intelligence, Pretection already has uncovered multiple networks of counterfeit organisations, that operate on the Internet, for its customers. Many more hidden counterfeit organisations have already been investigated by Pretection and could be taken care off as well. This depends on how much value companies and organisations hold to their brands and objectives. Pretection's services will help rid the Internet of counterfeit products.