Cybercrimes on the Streets of the Netherlands? An Exploration of the Intersection of Cybercrimes and Street Crimes

This article explores the intersections of street crimes and cybercrimes. Fourteen Dutch criminal investigations into networks that committed cybercrimes were analyzed to gain insight into offline and local dimensions of these activities. Firstly, we examined whether the networks in these cases are also involved in other criminal activities than cybercrimes. Secondly, we analyzed the origin and growth of these networks, with specific attention for the role or offline interactions on the physical streets. Thirdly, we explored whether the cases contained information that would indicate the presence of a street culture informing the activities of the offenders. Our analysis of both the criminal activities and the origin and development of the cybercriminal networks highlights the ongoing importance of the offline world. However, our results shed light on more than just the “hidden face of cybercrime.” Based on their linguistic practices and motives and neutralizations, we see examples of how core members, recruiters, and money mules in different cases are embedded in Dutch street culture. Our findings, therefore, indicate that cybercrime cases could also be interpreted as digital diversifications of traditional street (economic) street crimes and, thereby, as empirical examples of street offenders adapting to the rise of technology.

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