EU strategy to tackle organised crime and human trafficking to focus efforts online
According to the European Commission, more than 60% of criminal networks active in the EU engage in corruption and more than 80% use legitimate businesses as a front for their activities.
Online crime has mushroomed over the past 12 months as organised crime gangs have rapidly adapted their activities to capitalise on the Covid-19 pandemic.
That is according to the European Commission, which has presented five-year strategies to tackle organised crime and human trafficking using modern responses and tools to disrupt the business models and structures of criminal organisations both online and offline.
Since the emergence of Covid-19, criminals have moved online to sell fake or non-existent cures. The commission reported attempted scam sales of more than 1bn vaccine doses.
Traffickers have also moved online and the pandemic is likely to create the conditions for increased exploitation.
Human trafficking continues to be a serious threat in the EU with most victims, mainly women and girls, trafficked for sexual exploitation.
Between 2017 and 2018, there were more than 14,000 registered victims of human trafficking in the EU with traffickers across the globe making an estimated €29.4bn in a single year.
The commission is to liaise with internet and technology companies with the aim of reducing the use of online platforms for the recruitment and exploitation of victims.
Systemic training of law enforcement and judicial practitioners on detected and addressing human trafficking has also been proposed.
As half of victims identified across the continent are non-EU citizens, the commission will work to help combat trafficking in countries of origin and transit.
The strategy aims to improve the early identification of victims and then provide them with protection, strengthened victim empowerment programmes and assistance to facilitate re-integration.
"Trafficking in human beings is a crime that should have no place in our societies," said Ylva Johansson, Commissioner for Home Affairs.
The commission said more than 60% of criminal networks active in the EU engage in corruption and more than 80% use legitimate businesses as a front for their activities, while only 1% of criminal assets is confiscated.
"Tackling criminal finances is key to uncover, punish and deter crime. The commission will propose to revise the EU rules on confiscating criminal profits, develop the EU anti-money laundering rules, promote the early launch of financial investigations and assess the existing EU anti-corruption rules," the commission said.
Margaritis Schinas, vice-president for Promoting our European Way of Life, said the five-year strategies will hit criminals where it hurts most by undermining their business model which "thrives" on a lack of coordination between states.
Seventy per cent of criminal groups are transnational, currently active in more than three member states. The newly announced measures promise a move from occasional police cooperation to permanent police partnerships.
By 2023, the commission aims to make information systems for security, border and migration management interoperable to help law enforcement better detect and combat identity fraud.
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