How online technologies are transforming transnational organised crime
Experts from Cardiff University are leading on a major new research project which will assess how new technologies are influencing transnational organised crime (Cyber-TNOC). Professor Mike Levi, Dr Luca Giommoni and Professor Matthew Williams, criminologists at the School of Social Sciences, along with Professor Pete Burnap from the School of Computer Science and Informatics, have secured funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to investigate the ways in which criminals are making use of cyber and allied technologies. Their work will focus on modern slavery, the sale of illicit drugs, the propagation of malware and money laundering, including 'money muling'. These crimes generate substantial online data resulting from the use of communications and social media technologies used by traffickers, software coders and financial transactions. By collecting this new data, as well as harvesting interviews and administrative records, the team will produce the clearest picture yet of how online technologies are reshaping transnational organised crime. The study also brings together academics from the Universitą Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, University of Surrey and the University of Montreal. The team will work closely with private and public sector bodies, including fraud prevention organisation CIFAS, professional services firm Deloitte, South Wales Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
