ABSTRACT

This chapter explores organized crime in the digital environment. It describes the forms that organized crime takes in the digital environment. The chapter analyses the similarities and differences between the physical and digital. It discusses some of the criminal activities of organized crime groups. Organized Crime can entail any of the crimes discussed within the four categories of cybertrespass, cyberpornography, cyberviolence, and cyberdeception. Terrorist activities, primarily seen as ideologically or politically motivated, are not usually labeled as the work of Organized Crime groups. Many scholars are critical of the public’s understanding of Organized Crime. The unique qualities of the digital environment have changed the way individuals work together to commit crimes. A typology can aid one in understanding how to investigate a criminal network. The borderless digital environment makes it easier for networked criminals to elude law enforcement agencies that are bound by geography.