On Monday 18 May, Catherine De Bolle, the director of Europol, the EU's police cooperation agency, painted a slightly worrying picture of the position regarding criminals in the EU during the pandemic, particularly those in organised groups. The health crisis may have closed down some traditional activities (burglaries), but at the same time it has allowed criminals to adapt to other lucrative sectors.
So, with people locked down at home and much more active on the Internet, online medicines fraud and sales of faulty masks and counterfeit testing devices have increased during the crisis. In the light of this, the agency's Belgian director also said she expects fraud to increase “as soon as a vaccine is found”.
The director did not give detailed statistics on the increase in crime, instead basing her comments on daily conversations she is having with Member States.
Cybercrime has increased, including through the use of ransom software that has even targeted hospitals, and Europol has reported an increase in searches for and traffic in images of child sexual abuse. De Bolle reported that crime of this type has increased during the Covid-19 crisis. Without providing specific figures for the EU, she referred to a “106% increase in online traffic in child pornography” during the crisis, based on data from the US-based NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children).
Traffickers in human beings and migrants have also been working hard during the pandemic, completely adjusting their routes, particularly via the western Balkans.
Europol’s director noted that more people were crossing to the United Kingdom and, with few aircraft flying, there had been an increase in the use of lorries and boats moving people in refrigerated compartments.
In a newly published report (https://bit.ly/2zWlLMH ), the agency said that migrant smuggling will be even “more ruthless” after the crisis.
The director also expressed concern about the impact of the impending economic crisis, which is likely to increase this type of human exploitation “with renewed demand for cheap labour” from the EU's neighbours.
De Bolle suggested that Member States will also have to be vigilant with regard to grants for economic recovery, as criminal groups are also likely to seek ways to get hold of them. She also stated that, on 5 June, the agency would be presenting a new centre to assist Member States in the fight against economic and financial crime. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)