Organised crime gangs are shunning ‘old-fashioned’ crimes such as bank robberies to target unsuspecting Britons in a new digital global crime epidemic that is netting perpetrators billions.
Over 70 percent of fraud committed in the UK is currently carried out by foreign-based crooks with £3 billion lost to overseas accounts last year alone.
Thieves based around the world are meanwhile advertising themselves for hire on a Yellow Pages-style directory on the Dark Web.
This facility is also enabling criminals to operate of their own accord, meaning traditional-style ‘Mafia-style’ family gangs are no longer the only people masterminding misery for vulnerable victims.
However, crime syndicates also continue to operate in the new digital world, establishing international scam centres, with huge warehouses packed with people-trafficked on the promise of work then forced to steal on an “industrial scale”.
Jurgen Stock, the head of multi-national crime-busters Interpol, says it is imperative that cross-border co-operation increases to ensure there are “no safe havens for financial fraudsters” who he says are exploding in numbers due to the rich pickings on offer.
He said the very nature of policing – and skills required by investigators – have changed dramatically in recent times due to the vast majority of thieves operating online.
And he warned that Britons are increasingly at risk as the new breed of criminals look to exploit the most digitally-advance economies with scam centres mushrooming in every corner of the globe.
He said: “Criminals no longer need to operate in the community where they live and know – or indeed even in their own country.
“The threat is becoming more complex, becoming more international than ever. This is only going to continue in a digitalised world with unprecedented opportunities for criminals to attack our systems.”
He added: “The classic bank robbery is about to die out… It’s much easier to attack the bank online.”
The German-born detective revealed how gangs target countries region by region, meaning that international law enforcement networks could be used to provide early warnings about future threats.
“They can attack community by community, country by country on an industrial scale, with the tools that are now today available,” Mr Stock said.
“That is the new challenge. It’s not maybe with 100 victims, no it’s all over the place.
“That is why I’ve been talking about a global epidemic.
“And you can sit at home, in your basement, in your garage, in your scam centre, and you can attack country by country maybe based on language skills in your scam centre, and so on.
“That is industrial scale criminality in the 21st century.”
Mr Stock visited the UK for a global summit on fraud, at which governments of the Five Eyes intelligence partnership – the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – as well as those from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, have all agreed to unite to fight the crime.
Fraud represented 38% of recorded crime in the UK last year, affecting three million victims and costing them £2.5 billion.
Tech firms including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn were also in attendance at the summit on Monday and Tuesday, alongside banks HSBC, NatWest, Santander, and other financial organisations including Visa.
