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The Federal Government is now beginning to face the problem. The FBI has given 500 of its 7,800 agents a course in computer-crime detection. A bill before Congress would provide new and tougher penalties for computer tampering: up to 15 years in prison and fines as high as $50,000. When he introduced the legislation last year, Republican Senator Charles Percy of Illinois warned that computer theft could be as high as $3 billion per year. Even with stepped-up law enforcement, companies themselves will have to be much more vigilant. The MAPS scandal showed how simple it is to bilk a bank electronically. Though the scheme was discovered, the alleged leader had plenty of time to drop out of sight and reportedly to stash much of the missing $21 million in numbered Swiss bank accounts. By Charles Alexander. Reported by Joseph Pilcher/Los Angeles and Paul A. Witteman/San Francisco