Internet fraud has become a multibillion-dollar industry, with large groups in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa operating physical and virtual “scam centers.” UNODC report: Organized crime has become a global threat Peace and Security
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has released a new analysis warning that transnational organized crime has emerged as one of the most complex and rapidly evolving threats of our time. With the development of globalization, digital technologies and growing geopolitical instability, criminal networks are becoming more diverse, flexible, and more difficult to track their activities.
From the mafia to the cyber cartels
The report defines transnational organized crime as any serious activity committed by groups for financial or other material gain that crosses national borders. Today, it involves a wide range of players – from mafias, clans and drug cartels to cybercrime networks, armed militias and even legal companies that are intentionally or accidentally involved in illicit supply chains.
Some groups, such as street gangs, operate locally, while others for example, the criminal network Kompania Bello has branches on three continents. While classic mafia structures like Cosa Nostra maintain a hierarchical model, West African cybercrime groups operate in a horizontal format, bringing together professionals, brokers and intermediaries, including lawyers and financiers, who help launder proceeds and infiltrate the legitimate economy.
Conflict as a breeding ground for criminal networks
According to UNODC, armed conflicts not only destroy illicit markets, but also create fertile ground for them. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, for example, traditional drug trafficking routes were disrupted while online fraud increased. In the Sahel countries, criminal groups smuggle fuel to armed groups, and in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, armed groups derive income from illegal gold mining and export.
Some conflicts erupt precisely because of struggles over control of smuggling routes or gold mines, as occurs in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. As a result, organized crime not only fuels violence, but also weakens trust in states, encouraging corruption and undermining the rule of law.
In addition, there has been a rise in cybercrime emanating from Eastern Europe, where certain groups operate in close conjunction with transnational networks and engage in online fraud, financial scams and blackmail using artificial intelligence. intelligence and cryptocurrencies.
Shadow power: criminal management of territories
Many criminal groups take control of territories, establishing their own rules – a system of “criminal management”. They may act through violence and intimidation, or gain the loyalty of the population by providing jobs or maintaining “order” in areas without effective government authority.
In Latin America, such power is visible openly, while in other regions it operates covertly, but is equally destructive. Where groups control territory, the illicit economy creates short-term benefits but, in the long term, destroys public resources and exacerbates inequalities.
Some criminal networks infiltrate prisons, turning them into control centers for operations, while others turn them into ports and logistics hubs to control the transport of contraband goods and laundering. income.
Smuggling as the main source of income
Trade in illicit goods and services remains a major area of profit for criminal networks. This includes drugs, weapons, people, fuel, gold, timber and wildlife. Drug trafficking remains at the core of the global criminal economy, despite the increasing fragmentation of supply chains. Different groups specialize in certain stages – from cultivation and processing to logistics and distribution, forming temporary partnerships. Thus, the illegal fuel trade has grown in the Sahel due to differences in subsidies, and rising global gold prices have stimulated illegal mining and exports. International sanctions have also encouraged new smuggling channels.
UNODC estimates that coca and opium poppy plantations continue to expand, with cocaine production reaching record levels by 2023, and Afghanistan and Myanmar remaining the largest opium producers.
New technologies and artificial intelligence
Internet fraud has become a multibillion-dollar industry, with large groups in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa operating physical and virtual “scam centers.” Increasingly, fraudsters are using artificial intelligence to create convincing schemes to defraud citizens and companies.
The expansion of online gambling and cryptocurrency transactions has made money laundering easier. In the Mekong region, the casino and virtual asset industry has become one of the main platforms for transnational “laundry businesses” of criminal networks.UNODC estimates that from 2000 to 2023, organized crime claimed about 95,000 lives annually, the same as armed conflict. Latin America and the Caribbean remains the most dangerous region, with a homicide rate of 19.7 per 100,000 people in 2023, while sub-Saharan Africa had a rate of 11.9. About 22 percent of all intentional homicides in the world are gang-related, with the figure reaching 50 percent in the Americas. Moreover, violence is directed not only against competitors or authorities, but also against civil society: journalists, human rights activists, entrepreneurs. Between 2020 and 2022, about 200 journalists were killed, 20 percent for reporting on crime.
Economic and social losses
Criminal networks disrupt the economy, investment and sustainable development through their activities. In a number of Latin American countries, the volume of illegal financial flows from the cocaine trade is comparable to the value of all agricultural exports. In one West African country, the cost of illegal gold mining exceeds annual government spending on health. conflicts.
Threat to human rights and sustainable development
Organized crime violates basic human rights – from the right to life and security to freedom of speech. Trafficking in persons entails exploitation, violence and slave labor, and the control of criminal groups over territories makes it impossible to protect citizens and undermines trust in the state. implementation of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Convention), UNODC identifies ten priority areas for action, from systematic data collection and civil society engagement to strengthening international cooperation and integrating gender and human rights approaches.
The report emphasizes that no state can confront this threat alone, and implementation of the Convention remains the main global tool for protection against transnational crime and support casualties