The problem with Bitcoin Bradbury, Danny
Computer fraud & security,
11/2013, Letnik:
2013, Številka:
11
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The Bitcoin network was launched in 2009 by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, a developer who worked extensively on the project but only interacted with people on developer forums. At the end of 2010, ...Nakamoto disappeared from view, announcing his departure and handing off the project to the open source community. No one knows his (or her) true identity, but what is known is Nakamoto's wealth. He is said to have roughly $100m worth of bitcoins by today's value, and hasn't spent any of it.
Bitcoin's decentralised financial network is not immune to attack. It has already been subject to attacks on numerous occasions, and is in danger of experiencing more.
While the concept behind the crypto-currency is designed to minimise interference, both researchers and criminals have found ways to subvert it. Danny Bradbury explores some of the vulnerabilities surrounding this alternative to conventional fiat currency, and describes some of the changes being made to ensure it remains secure and stable.
Financial crimes refer to illegal acts committed by individuals or groups for financial or professional gain. Following the analysis carried out in this article, we noticed a very close connection ...between the number of newly investigated cases and the number of ongoing investigations from previous years, which denotes the maintenance of a high level of economic crime in general. At the same time, a very close connection can be observed between the total number of investigated cases and the number of coordination meetings; from here we can conclude that the frequency of these meetings is dictated by the high number of economic crime cases present at the EU level. Another strong connection that we can observe is the one between the number of coordination meetings and the number of joint investigation teams formed at the EU level, which shows a concentration of forces at the EU level to combat economic crime.
This article conducts a comparative analysis of Italian and UK legislations concerning the infiltration of organised crime into the economy. Considering (among other things) the concerns about ...allegedly weakened cooperation between judicial authorities of Italy and the UK in a post-Brexit era, the study evaluates the alignment of legal frameworks of the compared systems in combating the integration of organised crime and economic crime. The analysis is conducted on four levels: direct criminalisation of organised crime, the use of (also) anti-terrorism legislation to tackle organised crime, measures against wealth accumulation through crime, and provisions for corporate liability. By comparing the legal systems of Italy and the UK, which represent civil and common law traditions respectively, this study aims to identify convergences and divergences in legal approaches. The findings could inform strategies for enhancing mutual trust and fostering more effective international cooperation in combating the infiltration of organised crime into legitimate businesses, particularly in the post-Brexit context.
Purpose
This paper aims to outline the Italian framework of rules against economic crime and to verify if Italian legislation provides for appropriate and effective measures according to own needs ...both at a national and European level.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a comparative approach by examining the European and Italian legal systems for finding analogies and differences between them.
Findings
The study has revealed the need of a greater international harmonisation of criminal laws and penalties as well as the transnationality of the economic crime cuts the chance of success of every national strategy, given that transnational criminals are encouraged by the awareness that their cross-border activities complicate law-enforcement efforts against them.
Research limitations/implications
To maintain a common international level in the protection of individuals from the risk of economic crimes and to enforce the effectiveness of European and national regulations.
Practical implications
The achievement of a high level of protection, for public security and social cohesion, to prevent and reduce economic crimes, in particular, cybercrimes.
Social implications
To ensure a high level of security for the general public by taking action against money laundering, cybercrimes and other sorts of misconducts.
Originality/value
Fighting economic crime requires the close cooperation of law enforcements from different countries, which the traditional law enforcement institutions are not designed to provide.
The case for economic criminology Button, Mark; Shepherd, David
Journal of Economic Criminology,
September 2023, Letnik:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This paper sets out the case for economic criminology. It argues ‘economic criminology’ is more than just a prefix that brings scholars and papers together exploring economic crime. The paper argues ...that crimes associated with economic criminology are a significant societal problem that deserves the attention of scholars to understand these problems and develop solutions. The paper illustrates the pool of those studying economic crimes is much wider than criminology, which is very distinct from traditional volume crimes. Indeed, the vast majority of research emanates from beyond ‘criminology’. This paper therefore argues ‘economic criminology’ can act as catholic paradigm to bring together the many disciplinary silos studying economic crime and that this is a natural development of criminology.
The Journal of Economic Criminology aims to facilitate discussion among different academic disciplines and practice areas on how people should work together to better understand and address economic ...crime problems. In this editorial to the very first volume of the journal, Editors in Chief discuss their view of the economic criminology framework and how to make it a living concept. The framework is about an interface between disciplines studying economic crime. Economic criminology requires people, called ‘economic criminologists’, to be open to experiment and reflect upon the value of other disciplines in their own research and policing practice. This also requires a reflection upon different styles of undertaking research and writing academic works
Economic crime has an unconditional impact on the system of economic security of the state, because it is a destructive factor that destroys the system of economic relations at various levels both ...from the inside and from the outside. Considering the fact that economic crime is in the object-subject field of economic sciences and is a threat to the economic security of the state, it should be transferred to the field of economic sciences that study the economic security of the state. The analysis of scientific sources made it possible to group all approaches according to how they are interpreted by the authors, in particular: criminally punishable selfish actions; type of crimes; illegal activity; socio-economic phenomenon; intentional self-serving crimes; actions in the field of economic relations; violation of interests; sources of the shadow economy; selfish encroachments; intentional or negligent acts. The analysis of the above approaches to the interpretation of the meaning of the concept of «economic threats» made it possible to reveal its multi-vector nature, which is caused by the following: economic crimes are the object of various branches of law, in particular: economic, land, environmental, administrative, international and criminal; economic crimes are at the intersection of the interests of the totality of participants in social relations, in particular: enterprises; government agencies; financial and credit institutions; international organizations; NGOs; citizen and group of persons; economic crimes are the object of research of a set of sciences, in particular: economic, social, legal, public administration, technical. The awareness of the object-subject field of the definition of economic crime made it possible to propose that economic crimes should be understood as threats to the economic security of the state, which consist in the implementation of illegal economic activity (economic processes, relations, operations) or the violation of requirements for legal economic activity to satisfy the selfish interests of a person or groups of people.
Economic crimes such as financial fraud, money laundering and illegal lending are considerably influenced by the tax evasion phenomenon. In the context of Romania, characterized by a vast underground ...economy and tax evasion, these phenomena contribute directly to the perpetuation of economic crime. Tax evasion is a behaviour of taxpayers consisting in avoiding tax obligations by violating tax legislation. This behaviour includes ignoring mandatory tax rules, falsifying documents or providing incomplete and inaccurate data. Among the factors that can influence tax evasion are tax knowledge, tax morality, the taxation system, the perception of tax fairness and the cost of tax compliance. This study aims to identify the influence that tax pressure has on compliance and the factors that generate economic crime, thus providing useful information for academia, specialists in the field and those responsible for formulating tax policies. It is observed that an increase in tax pressure increases the likelihood that individuals will opt for tax evasion and fraud. That is why efforts to combat tax evasion must be integrated into the fight against illegal credit, money laundering and financial fraud. Thus, an effective government strategy in combating economic crime must include not only sanction-based measures, but also improved tax auditing activity, along with the promotion of spontaneous and responsible tax compliance.
This paper is concerned with the everyday economic crimes of ordinary people. Although dishonesty is a core characteristic of these offences, we are not aware of any prior research that examines the ...direct, relationship between dishonest attitude and economic crime. Based on a survey of the British public, this article presents insights into this relationship. By profiling the integrity, dishonest disposition and everyday economic criminality of the British public, the study finds a strong relationship between attitudes and harmful dishonest behaviour such that, in a given year, 26 % of adults in the UK commit at least one economic crime. The higher levels of dishonesty in males and younger adults helps to explain their more prolific offending. Both the honesty and age-economic crime curves indicate that the maturation decline in offending is gradual compared to the sharp desistance in early adulthood of the traditional age-crime curve. Whilst this finding also contradicts the conventional view that economic crime is a middle-aged problem, it helps to explain this perception. By comparing the attitude results to a 2011 study, the research further found that the maturation effect is more pronounced due to a decline in integrity of the under 55 y population so that the younger generations now have a steeper moral hill to climb.
