Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on Social Media and the Digital Transformation of Drug Trafficking on Darkweb

Rawat, Romil; Mahor, Vinod; Chouhan, Mukesh; Pachlasiya, Kiran; Telang, Shrikant; Garg, Bhagwati

doi:10.1007/978-981-19-3182-6_15

Cited by 53 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…In the realm of crime analytics, digital platforms have become the new frontier for illegal drug trafficking, with legitimate businesses often acting as inadvertent catalysts for criminal innovation (Rawat et al, 2022;Storrod & Densley, 2017;Tremblay et al, 2001). While the role of social network platforms in this domain has been explored, understanding the part played by mobile payment apps in these illicit activities remains largely uncharted (Hu et al, 2023;Yang & Luo, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social drug dealing: how peer-to-peer fintech platforms have transformed illicit drug markets

Boehnke,

Loupos,

2023

Ann Oper Res

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Digital platforms have revolutionized the way illegal drug trafficking is taking place. Modern drug dealers use social network platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok, as direct-to-consumer marketing tools. But apart from the marketing side, drug dealers also use fintech payment apps to engage in financial transactions with their clients. In this work, we leverage a large dataset from Venmo to investigate the digital money trail of drug dealers and the social networks they create. Using text and social network analytics, we identify two types of illicit users: mixed-activity participants and heavy drug traffickers and build a random forest classifier that accurately predicts both types of illicit nodes. We then investigate the social network structure of drug dealers on Venmo and find that heavy drug traffickers share similar network characteristics with previous literature findings on drug trafficking networks. However, mixed-activity participants exhibit different patterns of network structure characteristics, including a higher clustering coefficient, suggesting that they may be accessing multiple networks and bridging those networks through their illicit activities. Our findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between these two types of illicit users and provide law enforcement agencies with valuable insights that can aid in combating illegal drug transactions in digital payment apps.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social drug dealing: how peer-to-peer fintech platforms have transformed illicit drug markets

Boehnke,

Loupos,

2023

Ann Oper Res

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“… Coverage: 2018 Evolution of dark web threat analysis and detection: A systematic approach [ 20 ] Systematic Literature Review (SLR) IEEE Xplore, Science Direct, Springer, Scopus, ACM Digital Library and Google Scholar- TP:65 Darkweb forums are crucial for forensic investigations, as anonymity can also be used to identify criminals. Coverage: 2003–2019 Terrorism in Cyberspace: A Critical Review of Dark Web Studies under the Terrorism Landscape [ 21 ] Systematic Literature Review (SLR) Web of Science - TP:20 Minimal studies had been done on Darkweb Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on social media and the Digital Transformation of Drug Trafficking on Darkweb [ 22 ] Systematic Literature Review (SLR) IEEE, ACM, Citeseer, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, Web of Science and Scopus- TP:79 Need for more primary research to assess the quality and coverage of focused research on drug trafficking and other Darkweb crime. Coverage: 2015–2021 Research Hotspot and Trend Analysis of Anonymous Communication Based on Citespace [ 23 ] Bibliometrics China Knowledge Network (CNKI)- TP:325 Coverage: 2000–2022 The “dark web” and “privacy protection” have remained strong since around 2017 and 2018 Preliminary Findings of the Trends and Patterns of Darknet-Related Criminals in the Last Decade [ 24 ] Bibliometrics Web of Science, Conference Proceedings Citation Index – Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI)- TP:49 Insights into the evolution of Darknet-related crimes Coverage: Till June 2022 An insight into the deep web; Why it matters for addiction psychiatry?…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A follow-on study [ 22 ] provides a list of systematic literature reviews (SLRs) for investigating and detecting criminal activities related to the international drug market on online social networking platforms on the Darkweb. The study highlights the need for more primary research to assess the quality and coverage of focused research on drug trafficking and other Darkweb crime incidents, covering a wide range of issues such as illicit online business, organized criminal events, and potential illegal markets.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%