Heard the One About the Chinese Ship That Sailed on Land? No Joke
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- Category: General
- Published on Wednesday, 03 December 2014 19:45
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By Jordan Robertson Oct 29, 2014 12:57 AM GMT+0100
Photographer: Peter Novacco/Getty Images
Empty cargo ships sit idle in the Singapore Strait as the sun sets over a hazy Singapore skyline. Close
Empty cargo ships sit idle in the Singapore Strait as the sun sets over a hazy Singapore skyline.
Photographer: Peter Novacco/Getty Images
Empty cargo ships sit idle in the Singapore Strait as the sun sets over a hazy Singapore skyline.
People aren't the only ones affected by identity theft. Tankers, cargo freighters and other ships sailing in the Central Pacific and off the coast of West Africa are increasingly pretending to be vessels that they're not, according to a startup.
In July, almost 700 ships worldwide engaged in identity fraud, which has grown 30 percent in the past two years, according to new research from Windward, which monitors the worldwide system for tracking merchant vessels and uses data-analytics to detect illegal activities.
To hide their crimes on the high-seas, these ships broadcast false identities by using transmitters taken from scrapped vessels on the black market and by typing in made-up ID numbers and hoping they don't arouse suspicion, said co-founder and CEO Ami Daniel. Some are very large vessels -- oil tankers and cargo ships carrying millions of dollars worth of goods and raw materials to market.
As you can see from Windward's map below, ships in the Central Pacific (or, shall we say, purporting to be in the Central Pacific) accounted for the bulk of criminal activity, particularly illegal fishing. About 43 percent of identity fraud occurred in this region. Another big area of attention is West Africa, where tankers are hiding oil shipments, Daniel said. Fifteen percent of all ships transmitting fake identities are tankers, typically carrying oil or oil products, he said. Windward's customers include intelligence agencies and oil and gas companies that need real-time alerts about threats to their territories or critical infrastructure.
Heard the One About the Chinese Ship That Sailed on Land? No Joke
By Jordan Robertson Oct 29, 2014 12:57 AM GMT+0100
Photographer: Peter Novacco/Getty Images
Empty cargo ships sit idle in the Singapore Strait as the sun sets over a hazy Singapore skyline. Close
Empty cargo ships sit idle in the Singapore Strait as the sun sets over a hazy Singapore skyline.
Photographer: Peter Novacco/Getty Images
Empty cargo ships sit idle in the Singapore Strait as the sun sets over a hazy Singapore skyline.
People aren't the only ones affected by identity theft. Tankers, cargo freighters and other ships sailing in the Central Pacific and off the coast of West Africa are increasingly pretending to be vessels that they're not, according to a startup.
In July, almost 700 ships worldwide engaged in identity fraud, which has grown 30 percent in the past two years, according to new research from Windward, which monitors the worldwide system for tracking merchant vessels and uses data-analytics to detect illegal activities.
To hide their crimes on the high-seas, these ships broadcast false identities by using transmitters taken from scrapped vessels on the black market and by typing in made-up ID numbers and hoping they don't arouse suspicion, said co-founder and CEO Ami Daniel. Some are very large vessels -- oil tankers and cargo ships carrying millions of dollars worth of goods and raw materials to market.
As you can see from Windward's map below, ships in the Central Pacific (or, shall we say, purporting to be in the Central Pacific) accounted for the bulk of criminal activity, particularly illegal fishing. About 43 percent of identity fraud occurred in this region. Another big area of attention is West Africa, where tankers are hiding oil shipments, Daniel said. Fifteen percent of all ships transmitting fake identities are tankers, typically carrying oil or oil products, he said. Windward's customers include intelligence agencies and oil and gas companies that need real-time alerts about threats to their territories or critical infrastructure.