Summer is at the doorstep, and you may feel that the days soon will have a slower pace giving you time to catch your breath and charge your batteries. Crime, however, does not seem to slow down. This week has had many exciting reads that you can gaze at while you put your feet up.
The Trickbot
Let’s start with an excellent inside story from Brian Krebs, who has investigated an indictment of a 55-year-old woman who was recruited to develop parts of the Trickbot malware. The Trickbot group is responsible for significant theft of data, money, identities and much more. They also provide other criminal groups to spread malware through their platform. Link: Krebson Security – How does one get hired by a top cybercrime gang
Suspected human traffickers captured
Europol has supported a Europe-wide action day against human traffickers, resulting in identifying over 600 potential victims and capturing over 70 suspected human traffickers. Link: Europol – 630 potential victims of exploitation identified during Europe wide coordinated action days
Syria’s new drug trade
OCCRP (Organised Crime and Corruption reporting project) has released a deep coverage of the large Captagon seizures in Greece and Italy. They tracked the shipment and routes to originating ports in Syria under the direct control of the Syrian regime. Link: OCCRP – Greek Captagon Bust Leads to a Criminal Gang and the Port at the Heart of Syria’s Booming New Drug Trade
Tow Truck wars
A few reports have caught my eyes over the past week, but I’ll leave you with two of them. First, “Tow Truck wars” from Global Initiative has studied how organised crime infiltrates the transport industry and leads to violent confrontations between the criminal groups. Link: Global Initiative – Tow trucks: how organised crime infiltrated the transport industry
Global Corruption Barometer
Secondly, Transparency International released the Global Corruption Barometer for the European Union 2021 this week. It is the citizens perceived view on corruption in Europe. There are some excellent findings in the report. For example, corruption is NOT improving, perceived close ties between business and politics, personal connections for public services and many more exciting findings. As expected, the Covid 19 situation also has highlighted the increased risk of corruption within the health care sector. Finally, I think it is great that the report also included compiled data on sextortion, gendered corruption. I do not see that much of this topic in many other reports. Links: Transparency International – Citizens’ views and experience of corruption
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