Organised crime uses slang, emojis, and coded phrases to recruit minors, using language that resonates with a younger audience familiar to social media challenges and online gaming, the European Union’s police agency Europol has warned.
Illegal tasks may be presented as “challenges” or “missions” and messaging may be in terms of ‘opportunity’ and ‘business’. Europol speaks of ‘criminal service
providers’ that act via a network of coordinators who deliver assignments and instructions via messaging apps. In turn, runners provide weapons and ammunition, and transport the minors to a scene.
Apps used by minors provide direct communication channels that eliminate the need for physical meetings. Many young people are active on these platforms, which allows recruiters to target a large audience with minimal effort. Criminals attract minors by using phrases such as “easy money” or “quick cash” to frame illegal activities as attractive opportunities. As a result, minors may perceive these interactions as harmless or low-risk, making them more likely to engage with these online recruiters.
As young recruits often lack knowledge of the broader criminal network and have reduced legal exposure, they serve as resilient and low-risk assets for criminal networks, Europol concludes. For the full document, visit the Europol website.
Recently a joint EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and Europol strategic analysis report on ‘the ecosystem of intellectual property crime’ noted that social media influencers may endorse counterfeit goods alongside genuine brands, and target high numbers of relatively young consumers, who are likely to purchase counterfeit products due to their trust in influencers combined with their low-risk awareness, high risk appetite, and tendency to rationalise counterfeit goods purchases.
In the UK, a recently released County Lines Strategic Threat Risk Assessment by police covering the period from April 2023 to March 2024 stated that more adults and fewer children have been recorded by the police as having County Lines drug dealing involvement, in any role (including victim or perpetrator). Despite this trend, the County Lines Business Model continues to involve child criminal exploitation, as well as child sexual exploitation, police say.
Commander Paul Brogden, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for County Lines, said: “One of our priorities has been to enable police officers to recognise the signs of exploitation when encountering young people involved in County Lines so that they are able to safeguard those being exploited via these violent criminal gangs.”
