ВТ launches fresh attack on phone crime

British Telecommunications (ВТ) is mounting a new offensive against the barons of organised telephone crime who are costing it hundreds of millions of pounds annually Its chief weapon is a new technology that can cut the time to detect and prove fraud from - in some cases - years to minutes. Developed with BT's former partner, MCI of the US, the system has already been tested by BT's calling card division, where it has doubled the number of frauds spotted and halved the financial losses. Now it is being deployed across BT's busi­ness services.

The level of UK phone crime is hard to assess, but it is costing operators a minimum of £200m ($334m) a year. Trade organisations put the figure at 55,000 crimes reported, with a similar number of unreported fraudulent calls. And forget youngsters and amateurs: telephone fraud is big-time crime. Some of the UK's best-known villains are defrauding the operators to fund activities ranging from drugs to terrorism, according to Dennis Gotts, head of BT's investigations unit. 'This is more than stealing Юр from a call box,' he says. 'Notorious individuals in the criminal fraternity are involved. They know BT's network and they know what they are doing.'

Telephone crime can be absurdly easy. Opening an account in a false name and selling calls to international destinations before disappearing when the bill is due is one of the simplest. In one case earlier this year, a gang of Tamil sympathisers siphoned off or diverted some £2m from 400,000 fraudulent calls to Sri Lanka before they were arrested, convicted and imprisoned.

It took BT's investigators two years to collect the evidence to put the gang on trial. The new system, called 'Sheriff, will be able to do the job in minutes. Detection involves analysis of hundreds of millions of call records looking for unusual patterns: an unexpectedly large number of calls to a particular number or destination, for example, or calls made at unusual hours or from unusual locations.

BT's fraud strategy manager said the company's services were 65 already protected, but by individ­ual systems. The need was for & single system so fraud alert data could be shared across product lines.

Sheriff uses artificial intelli­gence for analysis and an advanced 'object-orientated' data­base from Versant, a US company, to provide the speed and reliability needed to sort through a mini­mum of 120m calls a day on BT's network. The system 'learns' from its experiences, so improving its ability to detect future frauds.

ВТ is considering offering a tailored fraud-detection service to its large corporate customers.

.

Discuss these questions.

1 How many telephone calls do you make every day? Do you have a telephone calling card?

2 How often do you call someone living outside your country? Are these personal or business calls? How do you pay for such calls?

Reading tasks

AUnderstanding main points

Read the text on the opposite page about telephone fraud and answer these questions.

1. Who pays the bills when there is telephone crime?

2. What is BT's calling card division?

3. How much does telephone crime cost operators a year?

4. How many fraudulent calls are made each year according to trade organisations?

5. Is telephone crime mainly committed by professional criminals or bored youngsters?

6. What is the simplest example of telephone crime mentioned in the text?

7. How does ВТ plan to protect itself from fraud?

8. How has new technology helped ВТ solve crimes?

ВUnderstanding details

What do the following figures refer to in the text?

l. $334m 2. 55,000 3. 400,000 4. F2tn 5. 120m

СComplete the sentence

Use an appropriate word from the text to complete the six stages of a telephone crime.

1 A criminal has to open an..........................................................

2 Next, he has to give a........................................................ name.

3 The crime consists of making contact with people who need to...................... a lot of expensive phone calls but have little money.

4 These people agree to....................... .. the criminal in cash for the calls they make - not the real costs of course, much less.

5 The criminal then.................. sells hundreds of long phone calls - to Australia, for example.

6 However, when the bill is........................................................ at the end of the month, the criminal disappears.

Vocabulary tasks

A References

Who or what do the underlined words refer to?

1 who are costing

2 Its chief weapon

3 where ]t has doubled the number of frauds

4 This is more than stealing 10p from a call box

5 they know what they are doing

6 before they were arrested

7 Its ability to detect fraud

8 to its large corporate customers

В Word search

Replace the underlined items with words and phrases from the text that have a similar meaning.

l ВТ is preparing a new attack against telephone fraud, (para 1)

o.........................................

2 The system has increased the number of detected crimes, (para 1)

d ................... the n ................... off ................... s ...................

3 Telephone fraud is very serious, (para 2)

b ................... -t ................... с ...................

4 One form of the crime is selling calls to others and then failing to meet the bill, (para 3)

d ..... . ............. w ................... the b ................... isd ...................

5 ВТ experts took two years to find enough evidence to take the criminals to court, (para 4)

p ................... the g ................... on t ...................

6 The system uses an advanced computer programme that identifies patterns of calls, (para 6)

a ................... о ................... -o ................... d ...................

7 The company may offer a fraud-detection service to its business customers that is specially, designed for each customer, (para 7)

t ...................

СComplete the sentence

Use an appropriate word or phrase from the box to complete each sentence.

detect prove barons of organised crime fraud false name evidence arrested convicted imprisoned

1 It is one thing to .......... fraud; it is quite another to ................... it.

2 Telephone ................... is said to be in the hands of ....................

3 The police cannot prosecute a criminal without ....................

4 One gang managed to steal millions before they were ................... ................... and

5 Opening an account in a ................... seems to be very simple.

D Definitions

Match these terms with their definitions.

1 siphon off and divert

2 arrest

3 convict

4 imprison

5 mount an offensive

a) hold someone at a police station

b) implement a serious campaign against an enemy

c) move part of something without the owner knowing about it

d) put someone in prison

e) find someone guilty of a crime

E Word fields

Write these words in the appropriate columns

murder arson robbery assault fraud forgery perjury burglary money laundering rape kidnapping bribery blackmail

crimes against people other crimes

Задание №3: Выполните следующие грамматические задания.

1. Перепишите предложения, используя Present Perfect или Past Indefinite в зависимости от обстоятельства, данного в скобках.

a) The waitress is bringing our tea. (a few minutes ago)

b) The bell was ringing, (just)

c) The boys play football in the yard. (many times)

d) Mother will be reading a new novel. (this month)

e) Students are cleaning their classrooms, (already)

f) I'll not meet her. (lately)

2. Вставьте глагол, данный в скобках, в Present, Past или Future Perfect.

a) I can't speak about the book. I (not read) it yet.

b) Hardly he (touch ) the pillow when he fell asleep.

c) By 2100 computers (take over) many of the jobs that people do today.

d) He ( wind up ) his watch already.

e) When my letter reaches you I ( move ) to New York.

f) I didn't cook salad because I ( not buy ) vegetables.

3. Переведите на английский язык.

a) Я знаю его уже много лет.

b) Он выучил все песни наизусть после того, как прослушал эту
пластинку много раз.

c) К тому времени, как ты вернешься, сын уже закончит школу.

d) Этот фильм очень смешной, жаль, что ты его не видела.

e) Не успела она понять, что случилось, как услышала громкий стук в дверь.

f) К завтрашнему дню она уже переведет все статьи.

4. Вставьте some, any, no или их производные.

a) I can see ... in an empty box.

b) Do you really think mat... visits this place?

c) There was .;. milk in the bottle.

d) I haven't seen him ... .

e) Is mere ... interesting in the programme of the concert?

f) Give me ... to drink, I'm very thirsty.

5. Переведите на английский язык, употребив местоимения much, many

(a) little, (a) few.

a) В бутылке много молока?

b) Дай мне немного масла,

c) В классе было много студентов.

d) Бабушка купила на рынке немного апельсинов.

e) У него было мало друзей, и он чувствовал себя одиноким.

f) Он болен и поэтому ест очень мало.

ВАРИАНТ 3

Задание №1: Прочитайте, переведите и перескажите текст.

The USA

The United States of America is the fourth largest country in the world (after Russia, Canada and China). It occupies the southern part of North America and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. It also includes Alaska in the north and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The total area of the country is about nine and a half million square kilometres. The USA borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south. It also has a sea-boarder with Russia.

The USA is made up of 50 states and the District of Columbia, a special federal area where the capital of the country, Washington, is situated. The population of the country is about 250 million.

If we look at the map of the USA, we can see lowlands and mountains. The highest mountains are the Rocky Mountains, the Cordillera and the Sierra Nevada. The highest peak is Mount McKinley which is located in Alaska.

America's largest rivers are the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Rio Grande and the Columbia. The Great Lakes on the border with Canada are the largest and deepest in the USA.

The climate of the country varies greatly. The coldest regions are in the north. The climate of Alaska is arctic. The climate of the central part is continental. The south has a subtropical climate. Hot winds blowing from the Gulf of Mexico often bring typhoons. The climate along the Pacific coast is much wanner than that of the Atlantic coast.

The USA is a highly developed industrial country. It is the world's leading producer of copper and oil and the world's second producer of iron ore and coal. Among the most important manufacturing industries are aircraft, cars, textiles, radio and television sets, armaments, furniture and paper.

Though mainly European and African in origin, Americans are made up from nearly all races and-nations, including Chinese and native Americans.

The largest cities are: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, San-Francisco, Washington and others.

The United States is a federal union of 50 states, each of which has its own government. The seat of the central (federal) government is Washington, DC. According to the US Constitution the powers of the government are divided into 3 branches: the executive, headed by the President, the legislative, exercised by the Congress, and the judicial. The Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

There are two main political parties in the USA: the Republican and the Democratic.

Задание №2: Прочитайте и переведите текст. Выполните задания к тексту.

World banking system is a 'money launderers' dream'

It was the biggest money launder­ing investigation in US history. Evidence had been gathered secretly over many months by undercover officers risking their lives. The suspects were lured to Las Vegas for a conference on money laundering. Then the police struck, arresting 22 banking officials from Mexico's largest finan­cial institution, plus 14 alleged members of Mexican and Colombian drug cartels and anoth­er 70 linked to them. Seizure war-is rants were issued to recover $122m (£73m) from bank accounts in the US and Italy, to add to $35m seized so far. The operation so damaged confidence in Mexican banks that their shares fell collectively by 4% in panic selling.

But as Operation Casablanca struck its blow in the Americas, officials of the United Nations Drug Control Programme in Vienna were editing the final ver­sion of a report - to be released soon - that puts the US triumph into a gloomy perspective.

It says that at least $200bn of drug money is laundered every year, but with the illegal interna­tional drug trade valued at $500bn, this is probably a conservative estimate. In a good year, up to $500m will be recovered through anti-money laundering measures -an annual success rate of about a quarter of 1% of laundered funds. Operation Casablanca, with $157m, will probably make the year a good one, but hardly vin­tage.

The report has been prepared by a group of experts for a special session of the UN General Assembly on drugs in New York. With the growth of the interna­tional drug trade, more ill-gotten money is being laundered than ever, partly on the back of elec­tronic banking and the increasing globalisation and speed of opera­tion of the international financial system.

Cashless transactions, electron­ic trading and computerised clear­ing mean that what the report calls 'megabyte money' can be moved anywhere with speed and ease. With 700,000 wire transfers worth $2,000bn every day, the report says it is 'a reasonable guess that 0.05% to 0.1% contain laundered funds to a value of $300m'. And even though half the total volume of transactions are bank-to-bank transfers of 'aggre­gate funds' for settlement or loans, the report says the 'complicity of corrupted bank employees' ensures these also contain laun­dered money. 'This system is a money launderer's dream.'

The one thing law enforcement officers have on their side is that criminals have to play by the rules of the system in order to use it. While it is impossible to spot transactions in progress once money is in the system, criminals have to risk exposure in putting it there. UN officials want the process made riskier.

At present, criminals reduce their risk by operating through offshore financial havens with lax financial regulation and poor banking supervision. They also hide behind banking secrecy, and disguise the ownership of assets by setting up shell companies and offshore trusts in jurisdictions where no questions are asked 95 about shareholders and beneficia­ries. Many accounts and trusts are known as 'walking' ones, where there is a standing instruction to move the accounts to another jurisdiction at the first sign of inquiry by the authorities.

UN officials accept that com­mercial confidentiality, legal tax avoidance and the easing of capital transfers at low or nil tax rates are legitimate reasons for bank secrecy and disguising corporate ownership, but they say the sys­tem is too lax in some places, no allowing infiltration for illicit or nefarious purposes. 'One of the most striking things about off­shore financial centres is the enor­mous increase that has taken place in the number of banks,' says the report. Banks can be set up with relative speed and ease and a minimum of due diligence investigation, so long as they meet a basic level of funds, which can vary between one jurisdiction and another.

Exporting bulk cash, usually in $100 bills and sometimes carried under diplomatic cover, is the favoured method of getting deposits to banks where no ques­tions will be asked. Casinos in off­shore centres are a favourite for converting funds: cash is exchanged for gambling chips, the launderer plays for a while at the tables then exchanges the chips back again. Instead of a cheque, some casinos offer immediate elec­tronic transfer of 'winnings' to an offshore bank account.

Discuss these questions.

1. Is it easy or difficult in your country to conceal financial transactions from the 'tax man'? Is there a strong 'black' economy?

2. Are you familiar with the concept of 'laundering' money - turning 'dirty' money into 'clean' funds? Where does the 'dirty' money come from? Is it always criminal activity?

3. Can bank transfers conceal stolen or embezzled funds?

Reading tasks

A Understanding main points

Read the text on the opposite page about how organised crime uses the international banking system to hide its money and answer these questions.

1. Where did the police arrest the Mexican money launderers?
2. How many people were arrested in total?
3. What was Operation Casablanca designed to do?
4. How much drug money is thought to be laundered world-wide every year?
5. According to the UN Drugs report, how much is the illegal drugs business worth every year?
6. How much can be recovered through anti-laundering measures?
7. How is it that more and more money can be laundered? What systems are used?
8. Do criminals have to abide by the same rules as legitimate bank customers?
9. How do criminals hide their financial transactions from officials?
10. What are the legitimate reasons for bank secrecy?

В Understanding details

Answer these questions.

1. What is meant by megabyte money?
2. What are aggregate funds normally used for?
3. Why do UN officials want to make banking riskier?
4. Who are the shareholders and beneficiaries?
5. What is meant by a walking account?
6. Why has the number of banks increased so much?
7. What must a bank have in order to be established, in certain places?
8. What is the favourite way of transporting illegal funds?
9. Why are casinos so popular for money laundering?
10. What can the casino offer to do with the 'winnings'?

Vocabulary tasks

A Word search

Find a word in the text to complete these phrases.

1. 1. m................................................. laundering (para 1)
2. seizure w........ (para 1)
3. f....................... version (para 2)
4. с...................... estimate (рагаз)
5. i....................... -g........................... money (para 4)
6. e...................... trading (para 5)
7. risk e............... (para 6)
8. f....................... havens (para 7)
9. с...................... confidentiality (para 8)
10. с...................................................... transfers (para 8)
11. о.................... financial centres (para 8)
12. gambling c...................................................... (para 9)

В Definitions

Match the phrases from Exercise A with their definitions.

1. disguising criminal money by concealing its origins ................................
2. keeping business secrets................................................................................
3. in danger of discovery...................................................................................
4. papers authorising the authorities to take money or property...............
5. moving large amounts of money from one place to another................
6. buying and selling through computers........................................................
7. places where laws and tax are especially lenient......................................
8. financial services located in small countries or on islands......................
9. minimum guess...............................................................................................
10. publishable form............................................................................................
11. money obtained illegally...............................................................................
12. tokens for playing in casinos........................................................................

C Scrambled words

Use the definitions in the first column to unscramble the words from the text.

1. washing and ironing unindrelag
2. attract or tempt rule
3. supposed to be true, but not proved dgladlee
4. get back vecorer
5. harm maadge
6. depressing moogly
7. identify tops
8. hide something by making it look different guisised
9. illegal clitili

10. wagering laminbgg

Задание №3: Выполните следующие грамматические задания.

1. Перепишите предложения, используя Present Perfect или Past Indefinite в зависимости от обстоятельства, данного в скобках.

a) Не is going to London in a few days, (already)

b) The teacher explains a new rule. ( at the previous class )

c) Ann was doing the flat (just)

d) They were discussing this problem. ( a few days ago)

e) Granny will not make a birthday cake. ( yet)

f) The birds fly to the south. (at the end of August)

2. Вставьте глагол, данный в скобках, в Present, Past или Future Perfect.

a) It's Friday. ... you (see) him this week.

b) I didn't ring Tom up because I (quarrel) with him.

c) By the next century scientists (find) other sources of energy.

d) Students (not buy) the new book yet.

e) By the time we get there the sun (set) already.

f) Hardly the last passenger (get) on the train when in started.

3. Переведите на английский язык.

a) Она сказала, что уже нашла все необходимые материалы.

b) Мы не могли поехать за город, так как не сдали последний экзамен.

c) Не успела она сказать и слова, как открылась дверь и зашел незнакомец.

d) Я давно с сестрой не разговаривала по телефону.

e) Он все поймет раньше, чем ты начнешь свои объяснения.

f) Мы здесь живем с 1980 года,

4. Вставьте some, any, no или их производные.

a) There is ... in an empty box.

b) I can't find my bag ....

c) Have you received ... letters from our mother?.

d) I saw hardly ... I knew at the lecture.

e) I have never seen ... lace boots like that.

f) "What apple will you take, Alice?" " .. will do".

5. Переведите на английский язык, употребив местоимения much, many

(a) little, (a) few.

a) Я нашла много интересной информации об НЛО.

b) Многие студенты посещают наш спортивный клуб.

c) В холодильнике осталось мало яиц.

d) Я взял у него несколько кассет.

e) У меня было мало времени, поэтому я не навестил тебя.

f) Дай мне немного хлеба, я еще не была в магазине.

КОНТРОЛЬНАЯ РАБОТА №5

ВАРИАНТ 1

Задание №1: Прочитайте, переведите и перескажите текст.

Hobbies

Hobbies differ like tastes. If you have chosen a hobby according to your character and taste you are lucky because your life becomes more interesting.

Hobbies are divided into four large classes: doing things, making things, collecting things, and learning things.

The most popular of all hobby groups is doing things. It includes a wide variety of activities, everything from gardening to travelling and from chess to volleyball.

Gardening is one of the oldest of man's hobbies. It is a well-known fact that the Eng­lish are very fond of gardening and growing flowers, especially roses.

Both grown-ups and children are fond of playing different computer games. This is a relatively new hobby but it is becoming more and more popular.

Making things includes drawing, painting, making sculpture, designing costumes, handicrafts. Two of the most famous hobby painters were President Eisenhower and Sir Winston Churchill. Some hobbyists write music or play musical instruments. President Bill Clinton, for example, plays the saxophone.

Almost everyone collects something at some period in his life: stamps, coins, match­boxes, books, records, postcards, toys, watches. Some collections have no real value. Others become so large and so valuable that they are housed in museums and galleries. Many world-famous collections started in a small way with one or two items. People with a good deal of money often collect paintings, rare books and other art objects. Often such private collections are given to museums, libraries and public galleries so that others might take pleasure in seeing them.

No matter what kind of hobby a person has, he always has the opportunity of learn­ing from it. By reading about the things he is interested in, he is adding to what he knows. Learning things can be the most exciting aspect of a hobby.

Задание №2: Прочитайте и переведите текст. Выполните задания к тексту.

Inside the Magic Kingdom

The note to Michael D. Eisner, chairman of Walt Disney Corporation, looked innocu­ous enough. 'To MDE -just to keep you up to date - probably worth a quick read,' said the lines slanting across a copy of a letter from Frank Wells, group president. The Wells letter - dated 17 October 1988 - was addressed to a lawyer negotiating a contract renewal for Jeffrey Katzenberg, the studio chief behind The Lion King and other successes that in the following years established Disney as Hollywood's leading film-maker.

In the middle of seven pages of contractual jargon, one paragraph screamed out for attention. 'It is, of course, obvious but nonetheless worth pointing out that many of these pictures still have substantial revenues forthcoming from ancillary markets which continue to accrue to Jeffrey's benefit... Of course, these will continue 'forever' in the sense that even if he should leave one day there would be an arbitrated amount as to future income from the pictures.'

Jeffrey Katzenberg left the company in the most bitter circumstances in 1994 and claimed $580m in compensation based on the future earning power of the box office favourites with which he was associated. The agreement that Katzenberg should receive 2% of the profits from all his projects started under his command was written into his first contract in 1984.

At the time, Disney was in financial trouble. The company had narrowly escaped the clutches of raiders such as Saul Steinberg and Ivan Boesky. Each was bent on taking control and selling the company's assets including an unmatched collection of animated feature films going back to Steamboat Willie. Katzenberg's bonus clause was a mighty, if initially valueless, incentive. As Eisner was later to claim in a court deposition, neither contract 'anticipated this bonus provision to be meaningful... we knew there were going to be big, big deficits.' 'In 1984,' he said, 'we were all quite confident there would be no profits to share.¹ However, in the following 10 years, Katzenberg was to earn $100m in cash compensation alone. More than 20% came from his share of profits.

Throughout this period, the two men appeared to complement each other. Eisner was the instinctive operator with the ability to detect successful shows and films, while Katzenberg (known for his inexhaustible energy) was the irrepressible studio boss who succeeded because he was 'focused, driven and relentless'. Second-in-command to Mr Eisner was Frank Wells, the group president, but he died in a helicopter crash in 1994, and two days later, Katzenberg demanded his job - one he had wanted for six years. When he was refused the job, Katzenberg stormed out to set up a rival entertainment company, DreamWorks, with Stephen Spielberg and music billionaire, David Geffen.

Disney's central argument in the case against Katzenberg was that the plaintiff had made a 'seat-of-the-pants' guess about the future earning power of his output as studio boss. In his first four years, by Eisner's own account, 31 of the 35 live action films from Walt Disney studios made a profit. In 1993, when Katzenberg was in virtual sole control of the studio (his 'genius' era) only 10 of his 26 loo live action productions made money, and the studio lost $36m. The 76 non-animation films made in his second four years earned $62m, compared with $200m from 35 in his 'pre-genius' era.

According to the company, the gross future earning power of the 1,000 projects started by Katzenberg is $7bn. This would entitle him to $140m, not the $580m he now demands. Discounted in accordance with a settlement formula agreed in the first stage of the court hearings, Mr Katzenberg - who has already received about $100m in part settlement - would get virtually nothing more if Disney's arguments prevail. Everything turned on the valuation of Disney's feature animation productions.

The widely publicised courtroom dispute between Katzenberg and Disney was settled in July 1999 by Disney granting an undisclosed amount of money to the plaintiff. Disney preferred to pay, rather than go into details about its future plans for expansion into China. Both sides claim to have won the battle - but both continue to face serious business problems.

Discuss these questions.

a) Can you name any of the best-selling animated films by Walt Disney Studios?

b) What do you know about the contractual and legal aspects of film-making? Who do you suppose makes most money from successful films: the owners of the studio? the actors? the distributors?

c) Do you know what a bonus clause in a contract is?