arrow-line asset-bg bars-line calendar-line camera-line check-circle-solid check-line check-solid close-line cursor-hand-line image/svg+xml filter-line key-line link-line image/svg+xml map-pin mouse-line image/svg+xml plans-businessplans-freeplans-professionals resize-line search-line logo-white-smimage/svg+xml view-list-line warning-standard-line
Articles

Creative Criminals and Cybercrime: EU crime concerns

Carilee Osborne unpacks Europol's recent report on serious and organised crime.

  • When

  • Geography

    Europe

  • Share

Europol’s 2017 Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA), released in March, highlights the complex and interdependent nature of organised crime within the European Union (EU). The four-year assessment focuses on a number of criminal activities, including document fraud, money laundering, and the trafficking of drugs and illegal firearms. However, the report’s dominant theme is the increased criminal threat from technological developments.

From the outset, SOCTA highlights the increasing complexity and scale of organised criminal groups (OCGs) in the EU. The report identifies more than 5,000 OCGs operating in the region, a significant increase from 3,600 in Europol’s 2013 report. The report also highlights some of the differences in the threat profile of organised crime compared to other regions. For example, OCGs in the EU typically avoid the use of violence given that this usually attracts the attention of well-resourced law enforcement agencies. Furthermore, very few OCGs in the EU depend on traditional forms of extortion as their primary revenue stream and, when they do, it usually involves targeting other OCGs.
Given Europe’s high internet usage rates, information technology is an effective facilitator of crime.

Similarly, kidnap for ransom is not common within the EU with most incidents being parental abductions or related to human trafficking. SOCTA also underscores the development and maturity of cyber extortion networks. Given Europe’s high internet usage rates, information technology is an effective facilitator of crime. More specifically, malware is particularly lucrative for criminals with a significant increase in cryptoware, a type of ransomware that uses encryption to hold a company’s data hostage until such a point that a ransom is paid

EU Flag

Drugs and arms-trafficking also remain a major source of revenue for organised crime groups in the EU. Whilst the former is the primary source of revenue for many EU-based OCGs, arms-trafficking facilitates other organised crime activities and has also been linked to terrorist attacks in the region. For example, investigations into the 2015 and 2016 Brussels and Paris terrorist attacks identified links between the perpetrators and organised crime groups, specifically the illegal arms and fraudulent document trade. This highlights the interdependent nature of organised crime and the increasing diversification of OCG criminal activities since 2013.

Whilst the report notes technological developments and the flexibility of OCGs as particular challenges, greater intelligence agency coordination within the EU is likely to remain a key focus of the fight against organised crime. In the next four years, the likely departure of the UK from the EU is expected to add to this challenge. In addition, intelligence agencies’ resources remain strained as a result of the region-wide migrant crisis and the continuing risk of terrorism. These are complex long-standing constraints that EU authorities will need to address in order to curb organised crime.

S-RM’s GSI is the simplest way to get a fresh perspective on the security risks affecting you, your work, and your travel.

Find out more