Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to highlight both the ways in which transnational organized crime has developed and will develop, and also some problems in relation to financing economic organized crime networks. These are related to the problem of state capture problem in emerging democracies. Design/methodology/approach -The literature and other sources have been reviewed to analyse trends relating to transnational crime organisations. Findings -It was found that criminal organisations have moved in the last few years to strengthen their economic power, putting pressure on to states' politics through their networks. In some cases (such as tycoons in transitional countries) it seems that they have already entered a third phasemovement into politics. This form of elite organized crime could be characterised as a fifth branch of state authority, because it is influences, through the means of a great amount of money, corruption, networking and extortion, both the state economy and policy. Originality/value -The analyses and conclusions help us to understand the transformation of organized crime and its influence on modern society, especially in emerging democracies. This may allow politicians and others to predict how economic organized crime will act in the future and how to avoid the current pressure being exerted by these groups.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the consequences of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) into crime-fighting and present new criminal landscapes in the Western Balkans Six (WB6) (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) at the beginning of the pandemic crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe paper builds on the content analysis of legal acts, strategic documents, academic articles, media reporting, official documents, four semi-structured interviews with civil society organisations, two consultations with police officers and two consultations with civil society organisations.FindingsIn the first nine weeks of the spread of COVID-19, the WB6 experienced a small rise in the price of marijuana. The same applied to stimulant drugs like ecstasy and amphetamines. However, very little heroin was available. Prices of protective face masks, disinfectants and medicinal alcohol skyrocketed due to attempts at price gouging. There were cases of scams using mobile and digital technologies, as well as burglaries of newspaper or cigarette kiosks, shops, pharmacies and exchange offices. It was difficult to determine whether the smuggling of and trafficking in human beings experienced a decline or increase. No cases of sexual exploitation for providing online services were noted, although the number of calls made to organisations that assist in the area of human trafficking increased. People with drug and alcohol problems, persons living with HIV, those susceptible to stress, citizens with mental health problems, pensioners, the poor, the homeless and recently released prisoners were the biggest potential victims of crime at the onset of the crisis brought by the pandemic.Research limitations/implicationsThe research findings are limited to specific forms of crime (illicit drug trade, economic crime, fraud, scams, theft, smuggling of and trafficking in human beings) in the WB6 and based on findings from four interviews and four consultations, together with available secondary data.Originality/valueThis is the first overview of criminal activities occurring in the WB6 during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Purpose -This paper aims to present some intake on advance fee frauds. Frauds of which frequency of occurrence, despite being long present and people are globally aware of them, still present great danger. Several quantitative and qualitative analyses were done in order to find out how and why these messages actually work. Design/methodology/approach -The paper is based on a literature review, quantitative analysis (using SPSS) and qualitative analysis (using MAXQDA). Databases ware composed from messages accumulated in two periods, 1998-2005 (547 messages) and Jan-Sept 2012 (59 messages). Findings -Advance fee frauds are not declining in occurrence. They are constantly developing and use both bulk sending and narrower targeting. The latter present more dangers as the messages are more adapted to the interest of the message receiver. There also seems to be a severe resemblance and connection to other types of fraud, especially cybernetic frauds (like pilfering, phishing, or e-mail spoofing). These types of frauds are global and no country is immune, nor can any country be excluded, from hosting the perpetrators. Research limitations/implications -Though the authors' quantitative research database was big enough, there are some minor problems connected with it. Part of a database is a product of Slovenian police, which intended to analyze the content of messages, therefore because of police confidentiality issues, the database lacks some traceability. One would maybe argue that the methodology used by the police is not always the same as scientific usage of research methods, but in this case the database possesses all other necessary empirical attributes. The second database was composed from messages received by the authors, therefore they cannot say that it's totally globally representative. Originality/value -Though there are several qualitative and quantitative studies of advance fee messages done almost daily, only a limited number are done in academic settings. However, some academic studies would benefit from non-academic and vice versa. So the authors present some input to both kinds of studies.

Conference proceedings consist of abstracts of conference papers presented at the 13th international biennial conference on Criminal Justice and Security in Central and Eastern Europe organised by the Faculty of Criminal Justice ans Security of the University of Maribor, Slovenia. The conference was held online between 13 and 15 September 2021. A lead topic of the conference is rural criminology and perspectives such as deviance, crime and social control activities, and provision of safety ans security. At the conference, 68 papers were presented by 116 authors from 22 countries. A celebration of the 25th anniversary of the international biennial conference took place. The conference proves an active and fruitfull international research activities of the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security of the University of Maribor.