Organised Crime and the Internet

• In Event: Computers and Network Intrusions: Towards an Understanding of Criminality

Abstract

With the digitization of society, crime has also digitized. Although some studies into organised crime and the Internet have been done, empirical research is still scarce. Therefore, little is known about exactly how organized crime groups use IT and what consequences the use of IT has for the operations and dynamics of criminal networks. Does the use of modern communication technology alter the ways in which offenders cooperate and criminal networks develop? How does the use of IT affect the modus operandi of organized crime groups, more specifically the logistic and financial dimension of their criminal operations? Does IT help offenders solve specific bottlenecks in their modus operandi and/or does it introduce new bottlenecks? To address these research questions, we analysed 30 large scale criminal investigations. These criminal investigations are part of the Dutch Organized Crime Monitor, an ongoing research project into the nature of organized crime in the Netherlands.

Authors

• Rutger Leukfeldt, NSCR (NL) & University of Wolverhampton (UK)

• Edwin Kruisbergen, Research and Documentation Centre, Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice

• Edward Kleemans, VU School of Criminology - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam