Emerging low-tech criminal subcultures on open social media platforms: Developments in Digital Cultural Criminology

• In Event: Cultural Criminology Continues

Abstract

Recent studies reveal the hybridized nature of cybercrime, where digital and physical elements combine in localized criminal activities. Our research examines 'shallow end' cybercriminality—the most basic technology-mediated forms of street hustling—and explores how digital platforms reshape traditional criminal interactions. Based on ethnographic data from the MOD-Lab at the University of Copenhagen, we analyze criminal activities within Facebook groups that facilitate illicit transactions: drug sales, prescription medication trading, stolen goods exchange, and crime-as-a-service operations. These communities operate with minimal security protocols, as participants rarely employ encryption or protective measures. Common activities include selling personal identity information, accepting legal penalties for others, and trading shoplifted or stolen goods. Entry to these groups requires minimal vetting, with participants often revealing their identities or practicing lax anonymity. While traditional street terminology prevails, participants use no specialized coded language to conceal their activities. Our findings demonstrate that these digital subcultures closely mirror traditional street hustling and lower-socioeconomic bartering systems rather than sophisticated cybercrime operations. This research advances understanding of crime hybridity and its subcultural expressions, showing how online platforms create ordinary spaces where participants engage in illicit activities without the technical sophistication typically associated with cybercrime.

Author

• Jakob Demant, University of Copenhagen