Organised Cybercrime in the Netherlands: Empirical findings and implications for law enforcement

Abstract

This study seeks to explore the characteristics of cyber-organised crime (OC), and focuses on the criminal activities of cyber-OC groups, their modus operandi, the organisational structures, the ‘profiles’ of the involved offenders, and the characteristics of criminal investigation into these cases. For this purpose we will focus on the following research questions: 1.Is organised crime involved in cybercrime? What kind of cybercrime do organised crime groups commit? 2.How do organised crime groups use the Internet to commit ‘traditional crimes’? 3.Does the Internet provide windows of opportunity for the development of new business ideas and for the identification and approaching of new targets? 4.Does the Internet lead to structural changes in organised crime? 5.Is cybercrime organised? How, why and when? 6.How does the criminal investigation of (organised) cybercrime work in practice and which best practices and challenges can be identified