By Marguerite DeLiema and Paul Witt

We examine the characteristics of consumers who reported scams to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. We assess how consumers vary demographically across six scam types, and how the overall emotional sentiment of a consumer’s complaint (positive, negative, neutral/mixed) relates to reporting victimization versus attempted fraud (no losses). For romance, tech support, and prize, sweepstakes, and lottery scams, more older than young and middle-aged adults reported victimization. Across all scam types, consumers classified as Black, Hispanic, and Asian/Asian Pacific Islander were more likely than non-Hispanic white consumers to report victimization than attempted fraud. Relative to complaints categorized as emotionally neutral or mixed, we find that emotionally positive complaints and emotionally negative complaints were significantly associated with victimization, but that these relationships differed by scam type. This study helps identify which consumer groups are affected by specific scams and the association between emotion and victimization.

Security Journal (2024) 37:921–964

By: Hai Thanh Luong

After the Silk Road closure, many studies started focusing on the trend and patterns of darknet-related crimes in the 2010s. This frst study combined a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis in the feld. This study clarifes 49 articles in criminology and penology among 1150 publications relating to the darknet on the Web of Science database to review and analyze the research evolutions of this topic in the last decade. The main fndings point out (1) almost all leading authors with their most infuential papers came from the Global South with predominant contributions; (2) unbalancing publications between regional scholars and their institutions and countries although the darknet-related criminals occurred and operated without border; and (3) some specialized themes have identifed to call further extensive research such as policing interventions in the darknet and fows of the cryptocurrency in cryptomarkets, among others.

Security Journal (2024) 37:535–574

By Aliya Saied-Tessier

Every day, judges and magistrates make decisions in family courts that have substantial bearing on children’s lives, including where a child should live, who they should spend time with and who should have parental responsibility for them. The main consideration of every decision is the welfare of the child (s.1 Children Act 1989). Yet the family justice system has been described as ‘operating in the dark’ (Curtiss 2019, 25 June)1 without the necessary data to demonstrate that professionals, and the decisions they make, actually help children involved in proceedings.

This paper sets out the significance of data within the context of the family justice system, current limitations, and opportunities and recommendations for improvement. It covers all parts of the family justice system, from children’s social care involvement to family courts, including both public and private law proceedings.

Key points

• The family justice system has been described as ‘operating in the dark’, with fundamental data problems including a fragmented system of data owners and users, and significant data gaps.

• While professionals are working to improve data and its supporting infrastructure (and there are examples of positive innovations such as data linking e.g. Administrative Data Research (ADR) UK’s Data First family court dataset), it remains the case that the family justice system lags far behind other public services in terms of data availability and quality.

• A coherent plan involving all data owners and users in the system could seek to build on data improvement work, fill data gaps, publish more aggregate data, increase safe data linking, and raise standards of data literacy and use.

• The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is best placed to oversee a data improvement plan and coordinate the rest of the system, building on the data mapping exercise undertaken by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).

London: Nuffield Family Justice Observatory. 2024. 25p.

By Dardan Kocani

Despite efforts to prevent illicit finance – such as the adoption of international frameworks, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards, and the EU’s anti-money laundering (AML) directives – financial institutions in the Western Balkans remain highly vulnerable to sophisticated criminals and the inherent risks in the formal financial system. Financial institutions such as banks, microfinance institutions, cryptocurrency services, and money transfer services are frequently exploited by criminals to move illicit money across borders. This report delves into the structural weaknesses and vulnerabilities that facilitate money laundering in the Western Balkans. One major insight is the impact of cryptocurrency, where regulatory shortcomings enable anonymous, cross-border transactions that are hard to trace. Financial technology, while promising innovation, also introduces fresh risks, especially where compliance and monitoring frameworks have yet to catch up. With no centralized registry for politically exposed persons (PEPs) or beneficial owners, financial institutions often lack critical information, inadvertently providing cover for criminal actors. The study identifies specific methods used to launder money, such as smurfing through bank accounts, taking out suspicious bank loans, engaging in real estate purchases, and employing frontmen. Notable cases in the region expose systemic vulnerabilities in banks, where criminal actors leverage insider support or regulatory gaps to move substantial amounts undetected. Furthermore, public-private partnerships in AML enforcement remain insufficient, creating weak links that are frequently exploited. This report provides strategic recommendations for governments, financial institutions, and non-state actors in the region to address these gaps, emphasizing the need for robust inter-agency collaboration, stronger regulatory frameworks, and consistent training for AML officers. The region needs a heightened, collaborative effort to prevent local financial institutions from becoming conduits for transnational organized crime and dirty money laundering.

Geneva: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC)’s Observatory of Illicit Economies in South Eastern Europe.  2024. 40p.

By  J. R. Mailey   

Over the past decade, Iran has turned to criminal markets as a strategic tool to pursue its geopolitical goals. Isolated by international sanctions, Iran has forged extensive ties with criminal networks across the globe to fund armed groups, procure materials for its nuclear program, and evade sanctions. This report uncovers how Iran’s proxies, such as Hezbollah and militias in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Palestine are critical to Tehran’s influence. Iran supplies these groups with weapons, training, and funds, while criminal networks help smuggle oil, launder money, and move illicit goods across borders. This strategy has enabled Iran to weaken its adversaries without engaging in direct military confrontation. One of the most striking findings of the report is how Iran’s use of criminal proxies allows it to maintain plausible deniability. Tehran’s regime has relied on these illicit actors to conduct operations ranging from assassinations and abductions of critics to sabotage and terror attacks—all while skirting direct accountability. The report also highlights how criminal networks have been key to helping Iran circumvent widespread sanctions. By collaborating with middlemen and transnational crime organizations, Iran has continued to smuggle its oil and accumulate foreign currency. These criminal partnerships have enabled Tehran to access global markets, finance proxy wars, and strengthen its military capabilities through illicit means. The study provides detailed case studies on Iran’s operations and offers a range of recommendations to counter Tehran’s criminal statecraft. By identifying pressure points and vulnerabilities within these illicit networks, the report outlines steps that can be taken to expose and disrupt Iran’s activities.

GENEVA:  GLOBAL INITIATIVE AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME. 2024. 59P.

By Thiago Canettieri

This paper presents an analysis of the relationship between peripheral urbanization, informal real estate markets, and criminal activities in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The study, based on ethnographic research conducted in two different peripheral areas of the city, reveals a clear connection between crime and the land market in these areas. The paper highlights how criminal agents exploit land properties to promote their illicit economic activities in peripheral contexts of the city. The unique pattern of peripheral urbanization creates opportunities for illicit agents to manage, control, and commodify spaces of informality, thereby facilitating their illegal activities. The main findings of the study underscore the significant impact of criminal activities on land markets, particularly the role of violence, coercion, and social legitimacy in the actions of criminals in real estate markets. The study also sheds light on the impact of informal real estate markets on the lives of people living in peripheral areas. By revealing the connections between crime, land market dynamics, and urbanization processes, this study significantly contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities at play in peripheral areas of Belo Horizonte.

Journal of Illicit Economies and Development, 6(1): pp. 129–144. DOI: 

By Albin Stenström, Felipe Estrada, Henrik Tham

Drug use was criminalized in Sweden in 1988 with the aim of reducing the number of consumers and drug-related risks and harms. Imprisonment was introduced into the penalty scale in 1993 to improve the legislation’s effectiveness. The criminalization has never been evaluated. Method: Goal-attainment evaluation based on a range of indicators from surveys, case-finding estimates, healthcare and cause-of-death data, and crime statistics. Comparative drug policy analysis is conducted with other Nordic countries. Results: The criminalization is not followed by a reduced or more expensive drug supply, reduced consumption levels, problematic drug use or healthcare needs, or fewer drug-related deaths. Most of the indicators instead show the opposite. Control costs are high, and trends are no better than those of other Nordic countries, despite Sweden’s more repressive drug policy. Conclusion: Criminalization emerges as an ineffective, expensive, and harmful means of dealing with the drug problem.

International Journal of Drug Policy Volume 133, November 2024, 104573

By Christopher Uggen, Ráchael A. Powers, Heather McLaughlin, and Amy Blackstone

Public attention to sexual harassment has increased sharply with the rise of the #MeToo movement, although the phenomenon has sustained strong scientific and policy interest for almost 50 years. A large and impressive interdisciplinary scholarly literature has emerged over this period, yet the criminology of sexual harassment has been slow to develop. This review considers how criminological theory and research can advance knowledge on sexual harassment—and how theory and research on sexual harassment can advance criminological knowledge. We review classic and contemporary studies and highlight points of engagement in these literatures, particularly regarding life-course research and violence against women. After outlining prospects for a criminology of sexual harassment that more squarely addresses perpetrators as well as victims, we discuss how criminological insights might contribute to policy efforts directed toward prevention and control.
Annual Review of Criminology Vol. 4 (2021), pp. 33–51

By Bradley Read

This article suggests that the parole dossier may be working to damage prisoners' sense of their identity. Through the creation of a carceral script which describes a person whom they do not recognise as themselves and which leads to an increased narrative labour. Prisoners' struggle therefore to form a post offence identity with which to navigate a complex process. As identity and its repair, appear instrumental to desistance, elements of the process, such as the dossier, could be putting hopes of rehabilitation at risk. Using the analysis of fifteen prisoner interviews, this article explores a parole process described as undermining agency. A process where risk assessment is perceived poorly and where ultimately the experience can lead to negative impacts on an already fragile self-identity. In conclusion, this article attempts to offer some solutions, to mitigate the negative effects, to maximise the potential impact of the dossier process on future desistance, through the more meaningful involvement of the prisoner at its centre.

Criminology & Criminal Justice, 2024. Online First.

By Marta-Marika Urbanik & Robert A. Roks

Recent research on street-involved populations has documented their online presence and has highlighted the effects of their online presentations on their lives in the real world. Given the increasing conflation between the online and offline world, contemporary urban ethnographers should pay increased attention to their participants’ online presence and interactions. However, methodological training of this sort is still in its infancy stages and has not yet evolved to guide the growing number of researchers undertaking this form of research. This article draws from our experiences using social media in our urban ethnographies with criminally involved groups, to examine the benefits, risks, and challenges of drawing on social media in urban ethnography. It is intended to serve as a foundational piece that will hopefully ignite scholarly dialogue, debate, and methodological training relating to deploying social media in urban—and specifically—gang ethnography.

Qualitative Sociology 43(6) 2020.

By Bridget Freisthler, ; Rouba A. Chahine, ; Jennifer Villani,; et al

Importance: The HEALing Communities Study (HCS) evaluated the effectiveness of the Communities That HEAL (CTH) intervention in preventing fatal overdoses amidst the US opioid epidemic.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the CTH intervention on total drug overdose deaths and overdose deaths involving combinations of opioids with psychostimulants or benzodiazepines.

Design, Setting, and Participants: This randomized clinical trial was a parallel-arm, multisite, community-randomized, open, and waitlisted controlled comparison trial of communities in 4 US states between 2020 and 2023. Eligible communities were those reporting high opioid overdose fatality rates in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio. Covariate-constrained randomization stratified by state-allocated communities to the intervention or control group. Trial groups were balanced by urban or rural classification, 2016-2017 fatal opioid overdose rate, and community population. Data analysis was completed by December 2023.

Intervention: Increased overdose education and naloxone distribution, treatment with medications for opioid use disorder, safer opioid prescribing practices, and communication campaigns to mitigate stigma and drive demand for evidence-based interventions.

The primary outcome was the number of drug overdose deaths among adults (aged 18 years or older), with secondary outcomes of overdose deaths involving specific opioid-involved drug combinations from death certificates. Rates of overdose deaths per 100,000 adult community residents in intervention and control communities from July 2021 to June 2022 were compared with analyses performed in 2023. RESULTS In 67 participating communities (34 in the intervention group, 33 in the control group) and including 8 211 506 participants (4 251 903 female [51.8%]; 1 273 394 Black [15.5%], 603 983 Hispanic [7.4%], 5 979 602 White [72.8%], 354 527 other [4.3%]), the average rate of overdose deaths involving all substances was 57.6 per 100 000 population in the intervention group and 61.2 per 100 000 population in the control group. This was not a statistically significant difference (adjusted rate ratio [aRR], 0.92; 95% CI, 0.78-1.07; P = .26). There was a statistically significant 37% reduction (aRR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.44-0.91; P = .02) in death rates involving an opioid and psychostimulants (other than cocaine), and nonsignificant reductions in overdose deaths for an opioid with cocaine (6%) and an opioid with benzodiazepine (1%). CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE In this clinical trial of the CTH intervention, death rates involving an opioid and noncocaine psychostimulant were reduced; total deaths did not differ statistically. Community-focused data-driven interventions that scale up evidence-based practices with communications campaigns may effectively reduce some opioid-involved polysubstance overdose deaths 

JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(10):e2440006. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.40006

By Heather Wardle, Louisa Degenhardt, Virve Marionneau, Gerda Reith, Charles Livingstone, Malcolm Sparrow

The global gambling industry The global gambling industry is rapidly expanding, with net losses by consumers projected to reach nearly US$700 billion by 2028. Industry growth is fuelled by the rise of online gambling, widespread accessibility of gambling opportunities through mobile phones, increased legalization, and the introduction of commercial gambling to new areas. Recent expansion is most notable in low-income and middle-income countries, where regulatory infrastructure is often weak. Gambling, in some form at least, is now legally permitted in more than 80% of countries worldwide. Online gambling, given its borderless accessibility, is available everywhere via the internet. Digitalization has transformed the production and operation of commercial gambling, but the consequences of this shift and its effects on consumers have not yet been fully recognized. The production of online gambling is interconnected with an ecosystem of software, information technology infrastructure, and financial technology services. The commercial gambling industry has also developed strong partnerships in media and social media. Sponsoring and partnering with professional sports organizations provides gambling operators with marketing opportunities with huge new audiences. This far-reaching and interdependent corporate ecosystem collectively wields substantial influence over policy and has multiple points of contact through which to leverage the behavior of consumers. Online gambling products are designed to be rapid and intensive, characteristics that are associated with a higher risk of harm for consumers. The introduction of in-game betting during live matches has made online sports betting instantaneous and increased both its frequency and prevalence. Traditional gambling products, such as lotteries and bingo, now have faster cycles and are continuously accessible through smartphone apps. The boundaries between digital gaming and gambling are becoming blurred, with gaming increasingly acting as a conduit to gambling. Leveraging online digital infrastructures and surveillance data, gambling companies now have unparalleled capabilities to target consumers, including through the use of social media and influencers to engage individuals and online user data to tailor marketing to individuals, cross-sell products, and prolong user engagement. To safeguard their interests, stakeholders in the commercial gambling ecosystem deploy a range of strategies, many of which are similar to those used by other industries selling potentially addictive or health-harming products. To shape public and policy perceptions, and as they lobby policymakers directly to further their commercial interests, the industry portrays gambling as harmless entertainment and stresses the economic benefits (including tax revenues) and employment opportunities that the industry provides. The gambling industry particularly stresses the social benefits that accrue when some portion of gambling profits are used to fund education, health services, or other worthwhile social causes. According to industry narratives, responsibility for gambling harm is attributed to individuals, particularly those deemed as engaging in problematic gambling, which deflects attention from corporate conduct. The gambling industry also exerts considerable influence over research into gambling and gambling harms, which helps it retain control of the framing and messaging surrounding these issues. Industry messaging has substantially influenced gambling policy and regulation. Most policy solutions to gambling harms rest on the notion of individual responsibility. Providing support services, treatments, and protections for at-risk individuals is, of course, important. Improving these remedies further and making protective supports broadly available remains a priority. However, framing the problem in this way and narrowly focusing policy attention on a small subset of the people who gamble draws attention away from industry practices and Key messages • Commercial gambling is a rapidly growing global industry and is becoming increasingly digital. • The harms to health and wellbeing that result from gambling are more substantial than previously understood, extending beyond gambling disorder to include a wide range of gambling harms, which affect many people in addition to individuals who gamble. • The evolution of the gambling industry is at a crucial juncture; decisive action now can prevent or mitigate widespread harm to population health and wellbeing in the future. Thus far, globally, governments have paid too little attention to gambling harms and have not done enough to prevent or mitigate them. • Stronger policy and regulatory controls focused on harm prevention and the protection of public health and wellbeing, independent of industry or other competing influences, are now needed. Given the increasingly global and boundary-spanning nature of the industry, international coordination on regulatory approaches will be necessary for corporate behavior. We must also seriously examine the structures and systems that govern the design, provision, and promotion of gambling products. 

Lancet Public Health, Oct. 2024.

By Alana M. Vivolo-Kantor; Christine L. Mattson, Maria Zlotorzynska,

Ketamine, a Schedule III controlled substance* that is Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved for general anesthesia, can produce mild hallucinogenic effects and cause respiratory, cardiovascular, and neuropsychiatric adverse events (1). In 2019, a form of ketamine (esketamine) was approved by FDA for use in treatment-resistant depression among adults† (2). Ketamine use, poison center calls for ketamine exposure, and ketamine drug reports from law enforcement have increased through 2019 (3), but recent trends in ketamine involvement in fatal overdoses are unknown. Data from CDC’s State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS) were analyzed to describe characteristics of and trends in overdose deaths with ketamine detected or involved during July 2019–June 2023.

MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2024;73:1010–1012

By The Children's Commission for England...

“I think the Government should do more about protecting children on the internet. Of course, it is very hard but just educating about the dangers of the internet is not enough” – Girl, 17. A year has passed since the Online Safety Act 2023 became law. This Act, a landmark piece of legislation, was welcomed by the Children’s Commissioner, following her extensive campaigning, as an important step towards a new era of the online world: one that presented an opportunity for children to learn, play and develop there safely. One year on, the legislation has yet to be implemented and important decisions regarding what those regulations will look like remain unclear. This report illustrates the extent to which children are still experiencing harm online. It sets the Children’s Commissioner’s expectations for the future of online safety policy making, and bolder steps towards robustly protecting children online. This report draws on the responses of 253,000 children and adults to The Big Ambition: a large-scale consultation of children in England carried out between September 2023 and January 2024. 2 The survey asked a broad set of questions about their lives, and in response, children shared their views on what they think needs to change to make their lives better. One of the areas they wanted action on was online safety. Children told the Children’s Commissioner’s Office that some children are more vulnerable to online harms than others, and that a variety of content and non-content factors cause them harm online. They also shared their views on who should take responsibility and make the online world safer for them. This report sets out what they said:

London: The Children's Commissioner for England, 2024. 80p.

By Charles C. Lanfear, Ross L. Matsueda, and Lindsey R. Beach

An important criminological controversy concerns the proper causal relationships between disorder, informal social control, and crime. The broken windows thesis posits that neighborhood disorder increases crime directly and indirectly by undermining neighborhood informal social control. Theories of collective efficacy argue that the association between neighborhood disorder and crime is spurious because of the confounding variable informal social control. We review the recent empirical research on this question, which uses disparate methods, including field experiments and different models for observational data. To evaluate the causal claims made in these studies, we use a potential outcomes framework of causality. We conclude that, although there is some evidence for both broken windows and informal control theories, there is little consensus in the present research literature. Furthermore, at present, most studies do not establish causality in a strong way.

Annual Review of Criminology, Vol. 3 (2020), pp. 97–120

By: Arantza Alonso Berbotto and Spencer Chainey

The theft of refined oil products provides criminal groups with significant financial resources that threaten the environment and socio-economic stability of countries where it occurs. Violence is also associated with this criminal activity. Using crime script analysis, a detailed interpretation of the theft of oil via the illegal tapping of pipelines in Mexico was constructed. The analysis revealed the roles performed by members of criminal groups, the recruitment of individuals outside of the criminal group to provide information about the pipelines and perform technical activities, and the supporting role of citizens and businesses from local communities. The analysis also revealed the decision-making necessary for the successful commission of oil theft via the illegal tapping of pipelines. The use of situational crime prevention measures and improvements in the use of deterrence are identified as offering opportunities for preventing this criminal activity.

GLOBAL CRIME 2021, VOL. 22, NO. 4, 265–287https://doi.org/10.1080/17440572.2021.1925552© 2021

By Camilo Pardo-Herrera 

The environment is under increasing pressure from global economic dynamics and the constantly increasing demand for raw materials. In this context, environmental crimes in general, and illegal mining in particular, play a key role as they disregard any consideration for sustainable resource extraction. In the Amazon region, one of the most vital ecosystems around the world, illegal gold mining has been identified as the most critical threat to the sustainability of the life of its ecosystems. There is evidence of large quantities of illegal mining production both in Colombia (two-thirds of all production) and Peru (25 to 30 percent of all production). However, since gold is extremely valuable, and portable, it stores value —even under extreme market conditions—, it can be reshaped in any way thinkable, and is not intrinsically illegal, introducing illicitly extracted gold into official supply chains is fairly easy. Once introduced, it flows freely through national, regional, and global markets, and its proceeds do so through the international financial system. It is estimated that illegal mining accounts for up to USD 48 billion a year in criminal proceeds.1 In this context, organized crime associated with the illegal extraction of gold in the Amazon continues to grow in number, size, and scope in response to the insatiable global demand, and thanks to the possibility of laundering and reinvesting their proceeds through illicit financial flows. Thus, an efficient response to the challenges posed by illegal gold mining should be comprehensive and include not just efforts to curb illegal mining, but also, more importantly, efforts to address the illegal flows of money taking place through the gold trade. Although it only analyzes a small sample of the entire global gold market, this paper provides substantive evidence of the illegal flows of money through the gold trade from Peru and Colombia into the United States. While this report is in no position to assert the commission of crimes —since it is only analyzing data— it presents enough evidence to identify points of entry for further criminal investigations and potential judicial action. There is evidence of companies smuggling gold from Venezuela into Colombia, which is then exported to the United States. Between 2010 and 2021, a total of 68,2 tons of gold worth a total of 2.6 billion US dollars, were smuggled through the border in vicinities of Cucuta. Three companies, one in Colombia (CIJ Gutierrez) and two in the United States (Asahi Refining USA Inc., and Johnson Matthey Inc.) concentrate over 90 percent of this trade. Gold trade through this route stopped after 2018 when an Executive Order was signed targeting all parties involved in the trade of Venezuelan gold. There is also evidence of gold and mercury smuggling along the border between Peru and Bolivia and illegal gold production shifting geographies after policy decisions are made. Data show an inexplicable spike in Bolivian gold export in 2014 —with no increases in production— which coincides both, with a ban on mercury by Peru, and a decrease in Peruvian production and exports. This suggests the shifting of illegal mining from Peru into Bolivia, and also of gold smuggling in the same direction. There are clear indications of mis-invoicing of gold trade between these three countries. Peruvian data show significantly higher weight values than those reported at US destinations between 2016 and 2018. A very similar pattern can be seen in Peruvian total exports to the world. Concurrently, trade data show that 29 percent of all shipments from Peru to the US were priced at 70 percent or less than the actual international price during that same time. Although available data does not permit us to assert whether it is a case of overstating the weight of the gold or undervaluing its value, the temporal coincidence of weight and value discrepancies allows us to suggest a general case of mis-invoicing during this time. Colombian data also suggests potential cases of mis-invoicing. Between 2015 and 2016, US statistics reported weight about 50% above those reported by Colombian customs. Price data show that in nine percent of the shipments —approximately 16 tons— gold was paid at 70 percent or less of the global gold price at the time of the transaction. Only a handful of businesses on both sides of the transactions explain most of this trade and are identified — 85 percent of the undervalued shipments are executed by five Colombian firms, and six businesses on the US side concentrate 86 percent of undervalued purchases. Trade in overpriced gold is also identified. Data analysis suggests irregular patterns in the rate between net and gross weights, which could respond to fraudulent reporting and concurrent illicit flows of value. For example, while most shipments use 0.2 grams (or less) of packaging per every gram of gold sent, an important percentage report uses three and up to five times that weight. Of these irregular shipments, over 90 percent were sent by one company in Colombia —Metales Procesados Industriales— to two businesses in the US —Atomic Gold Inc., and United Precious Metal Refining Inc. The analysis also raises warnings as to how certain reports are made. This is the case of the volume of shipments reported by Colombian customs, which is not the result of a measurement, but of an estimation using the net weight of the shipment. Instead of measuring the volume of each shipment, this field is populated using the density of gold, which is a constant, derived from the net weight of the shipment. Although not the result of fraud, but a standard procedure, this hinders transparency and the possibility of monitoring the trade between Colombia and the US. There is evidence of a trend to create shell companies to engage in the trade in gold; presumably of illegal gold. Peruvian tax data shows large numbers of companies participating in the trade in a very sporadic fashion, which contradicts stable and long-lasting trade relationships usual in the international gold market. These companies have a very short legal life, and concentrate all of their commercial activity within a few months, only to cease to exist shortly after. Between 2016 and 2021, these companies traded gold for a total of 230 million USD. 

The Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center. George Mason University. Arlington, Va. 2022. 34p.

By Layla Hashemi, Edward Huang & Louise Shelley 

 Over 58 million counterfeit respirators of substandard quality unable to protect individuals from infection have been seized globally since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. These seizures have primarily occurred in urban warehouses and ports around the world according to analysis of public and corporate data shared with the authors. The presence of tens of millions of respirators in storage facilities prior to distribution demonstrates that urban areas are key elements of illicit supply chains. Data suggests that the concept of urban insecurity needs to be reconsidered in light of illicit supply chains for counterfeit respirators and their role in facilitating disease transmission in urban areas. The analysis presented in this article suggests that threats to human life should not be confined narrowly to violent acts or the consumption of drugs. Human life can also be threatened through the massive distribution of counterfeit N95 masks during a pandemic, a problem that has become more acute with more contagious mutations of COVID-19. 

Urban Crime - An International Journal Vol. 3-No 2-September 2022 

By Spencer P. Chainey & Arantza Alonso Berbotto 

Crime script analysis is becoming an increasingly used approach for examining organized crime. Crime scripts can use data from multiple sources, including open sources of intelligence (OSINT). Limited guidance exists, however, on how to populate the content of a crime script with data, and validate these data. This results in crime scripts being generated intuitively, restricts them from being scrutinized for their quality and limits the opportunity to combine or compare crime scripts. We introduce a practical process for populating the content of a crime script that involves simple coding procedures and uses document analysis to quality assure data that are extracted from open sources. We illustrate the process with the example of the theft of oil from pipelines in Mexico committed by organized crime groups. The structured methodical process we introduce produces a crime script of high quality, helps to improve the systematic analysis of decision-making performed by members of organized crime groups, and can improve the identification of opportunities for crime control.

Published: 23 August 2021, Trends in Organized Crime, Volume 25, pages 272–300, (2022)

By Roderic Broadhurst, Katie Skinner, Nicholas Sifniotis, Bryan Matamoros-Macias and Yuguang Ipsen

In an exploratory quasi-experimental study, 138 students recruited during a university orientation week were exposed to social engineering directives in the form of fake emails, or phishing, over several months in 2017. The study assessed the risks of cybercrime for students by observing their responses. Three types of scam emails were distributed that varied in the degree of individualisation: generic, tailored, and targeted or ‘spear’. The study explored the influence of scam type, cybercrime awareness, gender, IT competence and perceived internet safety on susceptibility to email scams.Although tailored and individually crafted email scams were more likely to induce engagement than generic scams, differences were not significant. Analysis of the variables showed that international students and first year students were deceived by significantly more scams than domestic students and later year students.

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 587. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. 2020. 16p.