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The nexus of information technologies and illicit financial flows: phenomenon and legal challenges

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Abstract

The emerging concept of illicit financial flows has recently become a very topical issue on the international agenda. Due to the relative newness of this concept, there is still a lack of research on the nexus between these flows and information technologies, in particular, the internet. This paper seeks to contribute to the research on this problem from a broader perspective, linking the previously disconnected issues of traditional organised crime, online crime, and money laundering to the concept of illicit financial flows on the internet, before debating the related legal challenges.

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Notes

  1. OECD [25]; Goredema [19].

  2. UNECA [39]; World Bank [44].

  3. For example, according to some of the assessments, nearly US$1 trillion of illicit funds shifts out of emerging markets and developing countries annually, Global Financial Integrity [17]; ONE [26].

  4. World Bank [44].

  5. UNECA [39]; World Bank [44].

  6. Global Financial Integrity [17].

  7. Blankenburg/Kahn [4].

  8. Perez/Olivie [28].

  9. UNECA [39].

  10. Tropina [36].

  11. For example, according to KPMG research, in 2014 the prices for stolen credit cards credentials varied Credit from $0.25–$100 per item, debit cards information costed approx. $9.55, stolen usernames and passwords—$5.60 per item, Fowler [15].

  12. Fallmann/Wondracek/Platzer [11].

  13. Ben-Itzhak [2], Tropina [38].

  14. Europol [10].

  15. Wueest [45].

  16. Wueest [45].

  17. SecureWorks [32].

  18. SecureWorks [31].

  19. SecureWorks [32].

  20. Williams [43], p. 2.

  21. Goodman [18].

  22. Houses of Parliament [22].

  23. Bertrand [3].

  24. Greenberg [21]; Bertrand [3].

  25. Greenberg [20].

  26. Europol [9].

  27. Europol [9].

  28. Tropina [36].

  29. OECD [25].

  30. OECD [25].

  31. Tropina [36].

  32. Ghosh [16], p. 18.

  33. UNECA [39].

  34. Placement—depositing money into the financial system; layering—distancing money from its source through the series of transactions; integration—the commingling of money with funds in legal sectors.

  35. Filipkowski [14].

  36. National Drug Intelligence Centre [24].

  37. Tropina [37].

  38. Council of Europe [6], p. 36.

  39. FATF [12].

  40. Council of Europe [6]; Thomason [34]; Weaver [42].

  41. Villasenor/Bronk/Monk [41]; LIRNEasia/UP-NCPAG [23].

  42. Richet [30]; Piller/Zaccariotto [29]; Tropina [37].

  43. Bryans [5]; Europol [9]; TRACFIN [35].

  44. Filipkowski [14]; Council of Europe [7]; Fiedler [13].

  45. Europol [9].

  46. TRACFIN [35].

  47. TRACFIN [35].

  48. Weaver [42], p. 455; Filipkowski [14], pp. 20–21, Tropina [37].

  49. Shields [33]; De Nardis [8]; Abelson et al. [1].

  50. Abelson et al. [1].

  51. Pena [27], p. 41.

  52. Van der Wagen/Pieters [40].

  53. Thomason [34], p. 24; Tropina [36].

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  1. Max-Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, Günterstalstraße 73, 79100, Freiburg i. Br., Germany

    Tatiana Tropina

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Tropina, T. The nexus of information technologies and illicit financial flows: phenomenon and legal challenges. ERA Forum 17, 369–384 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12027-016-0435-2

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