The Dual Threat: How Police Reports are Weaponized and Sidestepped in Criminal Schemes

• In Event: Uncovering Insights from the Dread Darknet Forum: Understanding Offender and Victim Experiences and Perspectives

Abstract

Darknet users generally utilize Tor and other services to hide their presence and obfuscate their activities. The use of police reports and the threat of filing police reports to commit cybercrime is, however, an understudied area within darknet research. This article identifies when darknet users use and threaten victims with the use of police reports. We analyzed 63 Dread forum posts and found that darknet users utilize police reports to commit refund fraud against companies, extort individuals with the threat of filing a police report, and in rare instances darknet users encourage others to file police reports when being extorted by others. This study’s results highlight the unique uses of police reports by darknet users and how police reports are used to victimize others.

Authors

• Kenji Logie, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center

• Rachael Arietti, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center

• Marie-Helen Maras, John Jay College of Criminal Justice