DUBLIN, Ohio – The Ohio Credit Union League, together with the Ohio Bankers League and Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro is participating in the multi-state FinCrime Network, an Internet-based alert and database system that helps financial institutions and law enforcement agencies prevent identity theft and financial crime by sharing information that can lead to more arrests and reduce financial loss. Petro unveiled www.FinCrime.com in Ohio in October 2002. With the participation of the Ohio League, nearly 500 affiliated credit unions will have free access to the FinCrime network. "We are now all working together to protect Ohio consumers from check fraud, counterfeit checks, and other financial crimes, and to catch criminals before they strike back," said OCUL President/CEO Paul Mercer. John Kozlowski, general counsel for OCUL said credit unions have been inquiring on how to share information on financial crimes with other credit unions. Now, "by participating in FinCrime, credit unions will not only be able to share information on financial crimes with other credit unions, but also benefit from sharing and receiving information from other financial institutions as well." FinCrime is sponsored by the state bankers associations in Ohio, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, and more states are expected to join the program. Key features of FinCrime include: free registration for financial institutions and law enforcement personnel; automatic notifications regarding incidents within a user's defined areas of interest or regions; a fully searchable database on any given criteria including name, date, region, or type of fraud; email links to the individual who posted an incident's information; and automatic checking and notification of new incident entries that cross references with an existing entry.