Bibliographic details and abstracts are available to all. Downloads of full-text dissertations are restricted to University of Portsmouth members who must login. MPhils may be accessed by all.

Abstract

Despite the best efforts of multidisciplinary teams of investigators made up of professionals across financial services, law enforcement personnel, and the private sector, cyberattacks on businesses and individuals are reaching record levels each year. These investigators are being hampered by the dearth of literature on the structure and behaviour of organised crime groups (OCGs), which have extended their activities into cyberfraud.
This research aims to explore the structure of such crime groups, the roles and responsibilities of the personnel at each level in their hierarchies, and the extent to which existing models of criminological theory can be applied to them. 
Nine high profile professionals, who were selected through the snowball method of sampling, were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The sample of respondents, as a whole, had multidisciplinary experience coming from the fields of law enforcement, financial services, cybercrime, and private investigation. Furthermore, the respondents came from four different countries: USA, South Africa, France, and Austria.

The thematic analysis of the collected data revealed the following main findings. Firstly, West African OCGs involved in cybercrime may be placed along a continuum insofar as their levels of organisation are concerned. Those that are loosely organised are at one end of the spectrum, while those that have highly sophisticated organisational structures with specific roles assigned to each level of the hierarchy, are at the other. Secondly, the bureaucracy model of crime theory may be used effectively to understand the structure and behaviour of West African OCGs whilst the enterprise model has less applicability in this regard. Thirdly, the study showed the importance of ritualistic practices during the initiation process and for the retention of new members. Lastly, the study showed the use of varying terminologies to describe OCG members who have the same role functions, but within different crime groups.

The importance of the findings of this study lies not only in its facilitation of the investigations of OCGs involved in cybercrime but also in its potential to stimulate further research into these groups, thus providing a much-needed knowledge base for investigators to reduce cybercrime to the lowest level possible. The study also revealed the need for further research on how educational qualifications and skills of prospective members affect their recruitment into these OCGs.

Course: Cybercrime - MSC - P313PTD

Date Deposited: 2023-04-06

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14113.html