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

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

Cybercrime transcends national boundaries and impact individuals worldwide. Prior research on cybercrime within darknet marketplaces and forums has predominantly centered on illicit drug sales. This panel will examine the lessons learned about fraud, blackmail, extortion, and hate speech based on an analysis of the Dread darknet forum posts and comments. In addition we examine the techniques employed, underlying causes, and vulnerable populations related to these 4 areas. The first study examines the targeting of the elderly as victims and accomplices in fraudulent schemes perpetrated by criminals. The second study will examine posts before and after hate-motivated incidents to identify the targets of hate speech within and outside of the Dread darknet forum. The third study will analyze the utilization of police reports in corporate fraud schemes, the employment of police reports and their implied threat for extorting individuals, and the strategies used by offenders to evade filing police reports while committing fraud. In the final presentation, the discussion will center on how both perpetrators and victims of e-whoring, blackmail, and extortion portray these crimes in posts on the Dread darknet forum, and identifying the informal hierarchy of acceptable crimes within the Dread community.

Sub Unit

• Area III. Types of Offending / 21. Identity Theft and Cyber Crime

Individual Presentations

• Lessons Learned from Dread Darknet Communities: How and Why are Fraudsters Targeting the Elderly to be Victims or Accomplices? - Kenji Logie, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center; Sumita Das, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Hidden Hate: Analysis of Hate Speech on a Darknet Forum - Kenji Logie, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center; Noah Cohen, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center; Elias Taylor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center; Katrina Perry, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center

• Exploitation and Empathy: The Intersection of Perpetration and Victimhood in the Digital Age - Kenji Logie, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center; Noreen Ali, CUNY Graduate Center / John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Marie-Helen Maras, John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Emily Ives, University of Virginia

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