According to the Associated Press, from 2007 to 2010 there were over 80 corruption related convictions of law enforcement officials at all levels of government along the Southwest border.

In addition, about 10 percent of all new hires in the US Border Patrol are given a lie detector test. Out of the 10 percent given the test, 60 percent are found to be unsuitable for hire.

Source:  Associated Press, “US Customs: Mexican cartels corrupt border agents,” Google News, March 11, 2010.

In 2009, banks in the United Kingdom reported 51,000 phishing incidents targeting customers, a 16 percent increase from the previous year.

Source:  Jeremy Kirk, “Counterfeit Card Fraud Drops by Half in the UK,” PC World, March 10, 2010.

The United States Ambassador to Afghanistan reported in December 2009 that up to $10 Million in opium money is being funneled to the United Arab Emirates every day.

Source:  Zawya Dow Jones, “FOCUS: Dubai’s Dark Side Exposed By Al Mabhouh Killing,” Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2010.

South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission found that 20 percent of women in refugee camps bribes North Korean guards with either sex or money in order to defect from the country.

Source:  AFP, “N.Korea women refugees suffer abuse: watchdog,” Google News, February 22, 2010.

Russia President Dmitry Medvedev stated that police corruption and incompetence lead to 760,000 theft cases, 124,000 burglaries and over 2,000 murders or attempted murders to all go unsolved each year.

Source:  AFP, “Medvedev orders crackdown on Russian police corruption,” Google News, February 18, 2010.

The number of corruption cases handled by Italian Officials increased by 229 percent in 2009 from 2008.

Source: “Corruption is surging in Italy, says state auditor,” Reuters, February 17, 2010.

Transparency International reported that around 4 million families in India were forced to pay a bribe to a public official to receive services in 2009.

Source:  David Chen, “Zero-rupee bribes for bent Indian officials,” Radio Australia, February 12, 2010.

Nearly every Greek family pays an average of $2,500 in bribes to public officials each year.

Source:  Sylvia Poggiol, “Economic Problems Threaten Greece’s Place In EU,” NPR, February 2, 2010.

In 2008, there were 50,138 formal complaints to law enforcement in Mexico regarding phone extortion. Callers would normally demand ransom payments in order to return the listener’s child unharmed when in fact they did not have the child in their possession.

Out of the 50,138 formal complaints, 4,587 people paid the amount demanded by the callers.

Source:  Tracy Wilkinson, “Telephoned abduction claims bedeviling Mexico,” Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2010.

The United States Treasury has seized $16 Million in assets from Mexican Drug Traffickers between June 2000 to January 2010.

In comparison, from 2007 to 2009, Mexican authorities seized up to $400 Million from drug cartels.

Source:  Jason Lange, “From spas to banks, Mexico economy rides on drugs,” Reuters, January 22, 2010.