According to a Europol study, the decline of traditional hierarchical criminal networks will be accompanied by the emergence of individual criminal entrepreneurs, who come together on a project basis.
The report, which identified the key driving factors affecting the EUs criminal landscape, predicted that the role of freelance crime organisers is expected to become more prominent. It added that individuals with computer expertise are valuable to criminal organisations and that people with such skills are expected to advertise their services in exchange for payment in cryptocurrencies.
Despite acknowledging that digital currencies are generally designed for legitimate use, the analysis stated that their anonymity means that they are abused by criminals.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now