Europol has warned that organised crime gangs are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to scale up scams and payment systems, making their operations more global, cost-efficient, and difficult to detect.
According to the report, these advancements enable criminal networks to craft multilingual messages and generate highly realistic impersonations to defraud and blackmail targets in global cyberfraud operations. Europol also highlighted a disturbing trend in which generative AI is being misused to produce child sexual abuse material.
“The very DNA of organised crime is changing,” said Catherine De Bolle, Europol’s executive director. “Criminal networks have evolved into global, technology-driven enterprises, exploiting digital platforms, illicit financial flows, and geopolitical instability to expand their influence.”
The report cautioned that the emergence of fully autonomous AI systems—capable of planning and executing tasks without human oversight—could usher in an era of entirely AI-controlled criminal networks, marking a significant escalation in organised crime.
Europol’s findings come on the heels of recent law enforcement actions, including the arrest of two dozen individuals for distributing AI-generated child abuse images in late February, and the dismantling of MATRIX, an encrypted messaging service used in international drug and arms trafficking, in early December. The agency also identified cyber attacks, migrant smuggling, drug and firearms trafficking, and waste management wrongdoing as some of the fastest growing criminal threats on the continent.
As AI technology continues to evolve, Europol’s warning underscores the urgent need for global cooperation and robust legislative frameworks to counter the mounting risks posed by AI-enabled criminal activities.
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Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy said a Togo-flagged oil tanker was struck while attempting to make an “illegal passage” through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media said early on Friday.
Russian air strikes injured 13 and damaged buildings in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and in the Black Sea port city of Odesa in the early hours of Thursday, officials said on the Telegram messaging app.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he hoped the war against Iran was nearing its end and that Tehran wanted to reach a deal, but Iran dismissed his comments as “mixed signals” as the conflict approaches its seventh month.
The European Union will disburse €3.3 billion ($3.8 billion) to Ukraine for missiles and drones, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The U.S. State Department approved a $2.7 billion military sale to Ukraine for air-defence development upgrades, along with related equipment and services, the department said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities reported at least 10 people had died in Russian attacks over the last 24 hours.
The U.S. State Department approved a $2.7 billion military sale to Ukraine for air-defence development upgrades, along with related equipment and services, the department said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities reported at least 10 people had died in Russian attacks over the last 24 hours.
Cuba's electrical grid suffered a total collapse on Friday, plunging the nation into darkness and leaving millions without power amid a U.S. pressure campaign that has largely blocked oil from reaching the Caribbean's largest island.
A China Coast Guard vessel rammed a Philippine boat on a refueling mission in the South China Sea, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said, in the latest confrontation between the two countries in disputed waters.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that additional news organisations could be barred from the White House, hours after announcing bans on CNN, MS NOW and Politico over coverage he described as “fake news”.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced an agreement with Denmark and Greenland on Friday that would significantly expand Washington’s military presence on the Arctic island and give the United States what he described as permanent authority over its security.
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