Trend Serious and organised crime growing and exploiting technology

Summary

The report defines serious and organised crime as individuals, groups or transnational networks planning, coordinating and committing serious offences, and it judges that the threat to the UK keeps growing. Such crime is driven mainly by the pursuit of money through trade in commodities or the exploitation of people, and it often has an international dimension because victims, goods or offenders are overseas. Technology can be used in every form of organised crime, for instance to hide communications or payments, which makes the response ever more complex. Crime groups are using technology more to stay ahead of law enforcement, while government and police are also adopting modern tools to pursue offenders and protect potential victims. The report sees this risk as intertwined with eight other chronic risks, including biodiversity loss, state threats and fraud and illicit finance.