OSINT for Serious and Organised Crime

Serious and organised crime operates through networks of people, businesses, properties, vehicles, and professional services:

• A drug-trafficking network may rely on importers, couriers, storage locations, cash collectors and money launderers. 
• An organised retail crime group may use drivers, handlers, marketplace sellers and apparently legitimate businesses. 

Public records, websites, social media, online marketplaces, company filings, planning records and news reporting can help investigators understand how a criminal network operates, identify participants and discover points at which its activity could be disrupted.

Understanding Serious and Organised Crime

The National Crime Agency defines serious and organised crime as individuals planning, coordinating and committing serious offences, whether individually, in groups or as part of transnational networks.

The activity may involve:

• Drug trafficking
• Firearms offending
• Organised immigration crime
• Modern slavery and human trafficking
• Child sexual abuse
• Money laundering and illicit finance
• Fraud
• Cybercrime
• Organised acquisitive crime
• Intellectual property crime
• Environmental and waste crime
• Bribery, corruption and sanctions evasion

The Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy describes organised criminal activity as a form of business. Groups pursue profit through commodities, services and exploitation, then use the legitimate financial system to store or move proceeds and fund further offending.

The term “organised crime group”, referred to in law enforcement as an OCG, can sometimes create an overly rigid picture. Not every network has a formal hierarchy, fixed membership or identifiable leader. Some operate as loose collaborations in which participants come together for particular opportunities. Others use brokers and specialists who provide services to several criminal networks.