• E4J University Module Series: Cybercrime

• Module 13: Cyber Organized Crime

• Introduction and learning outcomes

• Key issues

• • Cyber organized crime: What is it?
  • Conceptualizing organized crime and defining the actors involved
  • Criminal groups engaging in cyber organized crime
  • Cyber organized crime activities
  • Preventing and countering cyber organized crime
  • Conclusion
  • References

• Exercises and case studies

• Possible class structure

• Core reading

• Advanced reading

• Student assessment

• Additional teaching tools

•  

• First published in June 2019
  
• Regional Perspective: Eastern and Southern Africa - added in April 2020

•  

  This module is a resource for lecturers  

References

Publications and media articles

• Albanese, Jay (2018). Cybercrime as an Essential Element in Transnational Counterfeiting Schemes. Presentation at International Academic Conference: Linking Organized Crime and Cybercrime. A conference hosted by Hallym University and sponsored by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 8 June 2018.
• Aldridge, Judith and Rebecca Askew (2017). Delivery dilemmas: How drug cryptomarket users identify and seek to reduce their risk of detection by law enforcement. International Journal of Drug Policy, Vol. 41, 101-109.
• Arsovska, J. (2011). Conceptualizing and studying organized crime in a global context. Possible? Indispensable? Superfluous? In C. J. Smith, S. X. Zhang, and R. Barberet (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of International Criminology. Routledge.
• BAE Systems Detica and London Metropolitan University (2012). Organised Crime in the Digital Age. Norton Cybercrime Report 2011.
• Barratt, Monica J. (2012). Silk Road: eBay for drugs. Addiction, Vol. 107(3), 683.
• Bateman, Tom (2013). Police warning after drug traffickers' cyber-attack. BBC News, 16 October 2013. 
• BBC News (2013). Mariposa Botnet "Mastermind" Jailed in Slovenia. BBC News, 24 December 2013.
• Broadhurst, Roderic, Peter Grabosky, Mamoun Alazab and Steve Chon (2014). Organizations and Cybercrime: An Analysis of the Nature of Groups engaged in Cyber Crime. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, Vol 8(1), pp. 1-20.
• Broadhurst, Roderic (2018). Malware Trends on 'Darknet' Crypto-markets: Research Review. Report of the Australian National University Cybercrime Observatory for the Korean Institute of Criminology.
• Broseus, Julian, Damien Rhumorbarbe, Caroline Mireault, Vincent Ouellette, Frank Crispino, and David Decary-Hetu (2016). Studying illicit drug trafficking on Darknet markets: Structure and organization from a Canadian Perspective. Forensic Science International, Vol. 264, 7-14.
• Busby, Matta. (2018). Cyberlaundering: from ghost Uber rides to gibberish on Amazon. The Guardian,17 May 2018.
• Cambini, Carlo, Nicola Meccheri, Virginia Silvestri, P Torino, C Duca and U Pisa (2011). Competition: Efficiency and market structure in online digital markets. An overview and policy implications. European Review of Industrial Economics and Policy, Vol. 2, 1-27.
• Christin, Nicolas (2012). Traveling the Silk Road: A measurement analysis of a large anonymous online marketplace. Technical Reports, 2012 CMU-CyLab-12-018.
• Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond (2008). Organised crime groups in cyberspace: a typology. Trends in Organized Crime, Vol. 11(3), 270-295.
• Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond and Russell Smith (2008). Criminal Exploitation of Online Systems by Organised Crime Groups. Asian Journal of Criminology, Vol. 3(1), 37-59.
• Cosgrave, Jenney (2014). Online Gambling: The New Home for Money Launderers. CNBC, 25 April 2014. 
• Décary-Hétu, David, Vincent Mousseau, and Ikrame Rguioui (2018). The Shift to Online Tobacco Trafficking. International Journal of Cyber Criminology. 
• Décary-Hétu, David, Masarah Paquet-Clouston, and Judith Aldridge (2016). Going international? Risk taking by cryptomarket drug vendors. International Journal of Drug Policy, Vol. 35, 69-76.
• Drange, Matt (2016). Why Is This Canadian Hacker Better Than Facebook At Detecting Gun Photos? Forbes, 31 March 2016.
• Ellis, Stephen (2016). This Present Darkness: A History of Nigerian Organised Crime. Oxford University Press.
• European Commission (2016). The Use of Social Media in the Fight Against Migrant Smuggling. European Migration Network (EMN) Inform. 
• Europol. (2017). Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2017 .
• Europol (2018). Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2018.
• Europol (2017). Massive Blow to Criminal Dark Web Activities After Globally Coordinated Operation. Press release, 20 July 2017.
• FBI (2010). FBI, Slovenian and Spanish Police Arrest Mariposa Botnet Creator, Operators.  
• FBI (2018). International Business E-Mail Compromise Takedown.
• FBI (n.d.). Transnational Organized Crime.
• GAO (2017). Internet Firearm Sales.  
• Glenny, Misha (2017). Organised crime finally embraces cyber theft. Financial Times, 7 March 2017. 
• Greenberg, Andy (2018). Operation Bayonet: Inside the Sting that Hijacked an Entire Dark Web Drug Market. Wired, 8 March 2018. 
• Greenberg, Andy (2017). Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Loses Life Sentence Appeal. Wired, 31 May 2017.
• Haysom, Simone (2018). Digitally Enhanced Responses: New horizons for combating online illegal wildlife trade. Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. 
• Hoffmann, Leena Koni, Patrick Smith, Christopher Clapham, and Alex Vines (2016). Tracing the Origins of Nigerian Organized Crime: Politics, Corruption and the Growth of Criminal Networks. Africa Programme Meeting Summary. Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs.  
• Hutchings, Alice and Chua, Yi Ting (2017). Gendering cybercrime. In: Thomas J. Holt. (ed.). Cybercrime Through an Interdisciplinary Lens. Routledge (pp. 167-188).
• ICE (2017). Russian Cyber-Criminal Pleads Guilty in Organized Cybercrime Ring Responsible for $50 Million in Online Identity Theft. 
• International Fund for Animal Welfare (2005). Caught in the Web: Wildlife Trade on the Internet.  
• International Fund for Animal Welfare (2008). Killing with Keystrokes.  
• International Fund for Animal Welfare (2017). Research identifies illegal wildlife trade on the Darknet.  
• International Fund for Animal Welfare (2014). Wanted-Dead or Alive: Exposing Online Wildlife Trade.  
• Kshetri, Nir (2013). Cybercrime and Cybersecurity in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Kshteri, Nir (2010). Diffusion and Effects of Cyber-crime in Developing Economies. Third Word Quarterly, No. 31(7), 1057-1079.
• Latonero, Mark (2011). The Role of Social Networking Sites and Online Classifieds. Research Series. University of Southern California, Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy. 
• Latonero, Mark (2012). The Rise of Mobile and the Diffusion of Technology-Facilitated Trafficking. Research Series on Technology and Human Trafficking. University of Southern California, Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy.  
• Latonero, Mark, Browyn, Wex, and Meredith Dank (2015). Technology and Labor Trafficking in a Networked Society: General Overview, Emerging Innovations, and Philippines Case Study. Research Series. University of Southern California, Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy.
• Lavorgna, Anita and Sergi, Anna (2014). Types of organized crime in Italy. The multifaceted spectrum of Italian criminal associations and their different attitudes in the financial crisis and in the use of Internet technologies. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice. No. 42(1), 16-32.
• Lavorgna, Anita (2016). Exploring the cyber-organised crime narrative: the hunt for a new bogeyman? In: Van Duyne, Petrus C., Scheinost, Miroslav, Antonopoulos, Georgios A., Harvey, Jackie and Von Lampe, Klaus (eds.)  Narratives on Organised Crime in Europe: Criminals, Corrupters & Policy. Oisterwijk, Netherlands. Wolf Legal Publishers.
• Lavorgna, Anita (2014). Wildlife trafficking in the Internet age. Crime Science, Vol. 3(5). 
• Leukfeldt, E. Rutger, Anita Lavorgna, and Edward R. Kleemans (2017). Organised Cybercrime or Cybercrime that is Organized? An Assessment of the Conceptualization of Financial Cybercrime as Organised Crime. European Journal in Criminal Policy and Research, Vol. 23(3), 287-300.
• Leukfeldt, E. Rutger, Edward R. Kleemans, and Stol, Wouter (2016a). Cybercriminal networks, social ties and online forums: social ties versus digital ties within phishing and malware networks. British Journal of Criminology, Vol. 57(3), 704-722.
• Leukfeldt, E. Rutger, Edward R. Kleemans, and Stol, Wouter (2016b). A typology of cybercriminal networks: from low tech locals to high tech specialists. Crime, Law and Social Change, Vol. 67(1), 39-53.
• Leukfeldt, E. Rutger, Edward R. Kleemans, and Stol, Wouter (2017a). Origin, growth and criminal capabilities of cybercriminal networks. An international empirical analysis. Crime, Law and Social Change, Vol. 67(1), 39-53 .
• Laeukfeldt, Rutger, Kleemans, Edward, and Stol, Wouter (2017b). The Use of Online Crime Markets by Cybercriminal Networks: A View From Within. American Behavioral Scientist Vol. 61(11), p. 1387-1402.
• Lusthaus, Jonathan (2012). Trust in the world of cybercrime. Global Crime, Vol. 13(2), 71-94.
• Lusthaus, Jonathan. (2013). How organised is organised cybercrime? Global Crime, Vol. 14(1), 52-60.
• Maras, Marie-Helen (2016). Cybercriminology. Oxford University Press.
• Maras, Marie-Helen. (2014). Inside Darknet: the takedown of Silk Road. Criminal Justice Matters, Vol. 98(1), 22-23.
• Maras, Marie-Helen (2018). Legal and Technological Solutions to the Facilitation of Trafficking in Persons Online.Presentation at International Academic Conference: Linking Organized Crime and Cybercrime. A conference hosted by Hallym University and sponsored by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 8 June 2018.
• Maras, Marie-Helen (2017). Online Classified Advertisement Sites: Pimps and Facilitators of Prostitution and Sex Trafficking? Journal of Internet Law, Vol.21(5), 17-21.
• Martin, James (2014). Lost on the Silk Road: online drug distribution and the 'cryptomarket.' Criminology and Criminal Justice, Vol. 14(3), 351-367.
• McMullan, John and Aunshul Rege (2010). On Line Crime and Internet Gambling. Journal of Gambling Issues, Vol. 24, 54-85.
• Neil, David, J. (2018). The 21-year-old's company had $1.6 million after 23 days. She'll be sentenced in July. The Miami Herald, 13 June 2018.
• Norbutas, Lukas (2018). Offline constraints in online drug marketplaces: An exploratory analysis of a cryptomarket trade network. International Journal of Drug Policy, Vol. 56, pp.92-100.
• OCCRP (2016). Italy: Crackdown on Illegal Online Gambling Ring.
• Oyenuga, Adedeji (2018). Ingroup-Outgroup Structure of Cybercrime Network in Lagos Metropolis. Presentation at International Academic Conference: Linking Organized Crime and Cybercrime. A conference hosted by Hallym University and sponsored by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 8 June 2018.
• Perlroth, Nicole (2014). Cybercrime Scheme Uncovered Brazil. New York Times, 2 July 2014. 
• Poulsen, Kevin (2013). In Las Vegas Courtroom, First Ever Cybercrime Rico Trial Begins. Wired, 20 November 2013. 
• Przepiorka, Wojtek, Lukas Norbutas, and Rense Corten (2017). Order without law: Reputation promotes cooperation in a cryptomarket for illegal drugs. European Sociological Review, Vol. 33(6), 752-764.
• Reichel, Philip and Jay Albanese (2013). Handbook of Transnational Crime and Justice. Sage.
• Reuters (2016). 11 Arrested in Italy Over Illegal Mafia-Linked Online Gambling Ring. Reuters, 13 January 2016. 
• Roberts, David L. and Hernandez-Castro, Julio (2017). Bycatch and illegal wildlife trade on the dark web. Oryx: The International Journal of Conservation, Vol. 51(3), 393-394.
• National Cyber Security Centre (2017). Cyber crime: Understanding the online business model.
• Shelley, Louise I. (2012). The Diverse Facilitators of Counterfeiting: A Regional Perspective. Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 66(1), 19-37.
• UNODC (2014). Counterfeit: Don't buy into organized crime. UNODC launches new outreach campaign on $250 billion a year counterfeit business.  
• UNODC (2012). Digest of Organized Crime Cases: A compilation of cases with commentaries and lessons learned.  
• UNODC (2013). Draft Comprehensive Study on Cybercrime. 
• UNODC (2002). Results of a Pilot Survey of Forty Selected Organized Criminal Groups in Sixteen Countries (September 2002). 
• UNODC (n.d.). The Money-Laundering Cycle.  
• United States Senate (2017). Backpage.com's Knowing Facilitation of Online Sex Trafficking. Staff Report Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 
• US Department of Justice (2017). AlphaBay, the Largest Online 'Dark Market' Shut Down.  
• US Department of Justice (2017). Gun traffickers arrested for allegedly using the Dark Net to export guns across the world. US Attorney's Office, Northern District of Georgia .
• US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2018.
• Van Buskirk, Joe, Sundresan Naicker, Amanda Roxburgh, Raimondo Bruno, and Lucinda Burns (2016). Who sells what? Country specific differences in substance availability on the Agora cryptomarket. International Journal of Drug Policy, Vol. 35, 16-23.
• Varese, Federico (2010). What is Organized Crime? In Organized Crime: Critical Concepts in Criminology, edited by Federico Varese, 1-33. Routledge.
• von Lampe, K. (2008). Organized crime in Europe: conceptions and realities. Policing (2)1, 7-17
• Wall, David (2015). Dis-organized Crime: Towards a distributed model of the organization of Cybercrime. The European Review of Organized Crime, No. 2(2), 71-90.
• Wall, David (2017). Crime, security and information communication technologies: The changing cybersecurity threat landscape and implications for regulation and policing.  in: R. Brownsword, E. Scotford and K. Yeung (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Law and Regulation of Technology, Oxford University Press. pp. 1075-1096.
• Wang, Peng and Antonopoulos, Georgios (2016). Organized crime and illegal gambling: How do illegal gambling enterprises respond to the challenges posed by their illegality in China? Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, Vol. 49(2) 258-280.
• WHO (2017). Definitions of Substandard and Falsified (SF) Medical Products.
• Wilson, Jeremy M. and Rod Kinghorn (2015). The Global Risk of Product Counterfeiting: Facilitators of the Criminal Opportunity. Michigan State University Centre for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection. 

Cases

• United States v. Mantovani et al., United States District Court District of New Jersey Criminal Indictment, 2014.
• United States v. Ross William Ulbricht, Criminal Complaint, Sworn Statement of FBI agent Christopher Tarbell, (NY, Southern District Court of NY, 2013). 

International legislation

• CITES (1973). Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
• United Nations (1961). Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. United Nations. (1988). Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances .
• United Nations (1971). Convention on Psychotropic Substances.
• United Nations (2000). Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
• United Nations Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
• United Nations (2000). Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
• United Nations (2000). Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

Next: Exercises

Back to top