Europol warns that crime networks embrace artificial intelligence and make it smarter and more difficult to detect fraud.
According to a new report of Europol, organized crime gangs use artificial intelligence for fraud, data theft and money laundering. The European law enforcement officers said the extent to which criminals use technology and “reshaped the organized crime environment fundamentally”.
“The qualifications that make artificial intelligence revolutionary – accessibility, adaptability and sophistication – make it a strong tool for crime networks ,, in a press release. “These technologies automate and expand criminal operations and make them more scaled and make it difficult to detect them.”
Familiar crimes, advanced abilities
Most of the examples Europol’s 2025 The EU has previously been reported, such as deep teeth used to mimic automatic ransom software and malicious software created by AI.
Criminals are reported to use AI to automate the money laundering processes and hide financial transactions and make it difficult to monitor illegal fund movements. Europol also said that the child has been used to create a child’s sexual abuse material (CSAM), which may have contributed to a disturbing increase in the volume and related crimes of the productive AI in recent years.
See: 1.5 billion dollars of Bybit hacking potentially the largest crypto robbery so far so far
“It can support the arrangement of the current CAM and the creation of new content,” Authors wrote. “Open pictures of adults can be manipulated to make the individual look younger or ‘wrinkle’ images that are not open.”
Europol in February, The arrest of 25 people A worldwide child has been involved in an online platform that uses AI to produce and distribute sexual abuse material around the world. This pointed out one of the first cases of its species, and proved that it was difficult because of the absence of a national legislature that deals with crimes produced by such AI.
The report also speculated a future on a future that “completely autonomous intelligence olmayan, which does not require human intervention, could pave the way for completely artificial intelligence controlled crime networks and point to a new period in organized crime”.
Almost all organized crimes leave a digital footprint
With the AI or without AI, Europol says that little organized crime takes place without some kind of digital being – even for crimes in the physical world. For example, drug smugglers use digital infrastructure for communication or use them to collect information about posts hiding their products.
Crime networks act as a proxy for hybrid threat actors who blend various tactics in coordinated attacks. These actors find each other in online areas where they can change the latest AI and digital tools used for attack.
“In addition, criminal networks are limited or not prevented by imprisonment,” the authors wrote, “And they integrate useful tactics into business procedures.”
See: What is the cost of renting a hacker on the Dark Web
The corruption and radicalization of young people continued to be a central strategy for an organized crime and enlarge the leadership without direct prosecution. Europol said that this is fueled by the “encrypted communication tools and online platforms that facilitate unlimited recruitment, extortion and coordination.” These platforms may include social media or game channels.
Criminals also channel parallel financial systems that are facilitated by developing technologies such as blockchain to launder their illegal profits. Beyond providing privacy, these systems are designed to increase criminal delegation through digital asset trade.
In a press release, Europol Executive Director Catherine de Bolle, “Organized crime DNA is changing,” he said. “Crime networks have turned into global, technology -oriented crime businesses, took advantage of digital platforms, geopolitical instability to expand illegal financial flows and effects. More adaptable and more dangerous than ever.”
