Crimes

In many businesses, computers have largely replaced paper work, because they are fast, flexible, and do not make mistakes. As one banker said, "Unlike humans, computers never have a bad day." And they are honest. Many banks advertise that their transactions are "unlocked by human hands" and therefore safe from human temptation. Obviously, computers have no reason to steal money. But they also have no conscience, and the growing number of computer crimes shows they can be used to steal.

Computer criminals don't use guns. And even if they are caught, it is hard to punish them because there are no witness and often no evidence. A computer cannot remember who used it: it simply does what it is told. The head teller at a Salt Lake City bank used a computer to steal more than one and a half billion dollars in just four years. No one noticed this theft because she moved the money from one account to another. Each time a customer she had robbed questioned the balance in his account, the teller claimed a computer error, then replaced the missing money from someone else's account. This person was caught only because she was a drug user. When the police broke up an illegal drug operation, her name was in the records.

Some employees use the computer's power to take revenge on employers they consider unfair. Recently, a large company fired its computer-tape-librarian for reasons that involved his personal rather than his professional life. He was given forty days notice. In those forty days, he erased all the company's computerized records.

Most computer criminals have been minor employees. Now police wonder if this is the "tip of the iceberg". As one official says, "I have the feeling that there is more crime out there than we are catching. What we are seeing now is all so poorly done. I wonder what the real experts are doing—the ones who really know how a computer works."

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the topic of this passage?
2. According to this passage, why are transactions in many banks claimed to be safe?
3. How did the bank teller cover up her crime?
4. Forty days after he received the notice, the librarian must ____.
5. According to the last paragraph, what kind of computer criminal is hard to be caught by the police?

(Keys.)