ALSBTALK:

I asked my campus IT folks how they might do easy and simple computer forensics (e.g., simultaneous local and out-of-state IP addresses logged into the same password protected account) before asking the State AG's office for assistance.  Help them help you.

Last I checked, trademarks are "property".  Additionally, I would dare to forecast that in a legislatively ordered liberal construction of a consumer protection statute which targets the wrongful commercial interest will get a court to rule that State issued college credit towards a State issued college degree will fit with the broad confines of State property for the purposes of qui tam.

More importantly, once the right to a remedy is established, the metric of loss need not always only be the loss suffered.  Restitution measures off of gain received.  

When engaged in a criminal activity does the civil defendant's gain received get measured by revenues received; or, does the law allow the defendant the benefit of taking deductions from revenue based upon "lawful" expenses?  I can see being able to deduct the heating bill, maybe; but, will any deduction be allowed for labor related to implementing the fraud itself?

Humans are not rational, far from it.  But, nor are humans devoid of rationality.  If the probability of prosecution (of any or all forms) increases and if the potential loss in prosecution increases, then the more attentive and calculating criminals will seek out less costly (to them) crimes.  I believe we all would agree that superior attentiveness and superior calculating skills are required to get up and keep running a web based scholastic fraud enterprise.  Thus, it would be more likely that aggressive enforcement would extinguish more of the criminal activity than ordinarily is extinguished by more aggressive enforcement.

If, and they surely will, go off shore, then target as co-conspirators the credit card companies directing payment from on-shore customers to off-shore provides, which providers have been previously identified to the credit card companies.  I would dare to guess that card issuers just might be willing to accede to being custodians of disputed ownership dollars.  When do escheat rules kick in?

If you want to find a way to say "Oh, there's nothing that can be done.", then I'm sure everyone on this list is creative enough to come up with plausible excuses.  Similarly, if one takes the attitude "What can be done to put the hurt on these ne're-do-wells?", then, again, I trust the abundance of creativity resident on this list.

Also, bear in mind that some efforts are initiated with a reasonable expectation of failure on that specific effort, but with guaranteed success on the increasing of transaction costs for the ne'er-do-well.

Hmmm, would a RICO suit be feasible?

Michael

Professor Michael J. O'Hara, J.D., Ph.D.
Mammel Hall 228
Finance, Banking, and Real Estate Department
College of Business Administration
University of Nebraska at Omaha
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Omaha  NE  68182
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