Crimes that happen in the virtual environment created by digital technologies inflict considerable economic damage. Mercenary motives of criminals in the information society are giving rise to increasingly more and more sophisticated methods of abusing the trust of computer networks’ users. The harmonization of Russian legislation on counteracting cybercrimes with the legal standards of the Council of Europe is inevitable due to the trans-border character of crimes committed using information and telecommunication technologies, and to their high public danger. The methodology of researching cybercrime is based on the comparative analysis of Russian law enforcement practice on crimes in the sphere of computer information and the most progressive practices of counteracting cybercrime in the member states of the Council of Europe. The methods of inclusive observation and discursive analysis make it possible to identify latent delicts in contemporary information space. The analysis of criminal legislation and the practices of criminal behavior in cyberspace are aimed at improving the measures of counteracting the violations of fundamental human rights in the process of the digitization of economy, when fraud based on the abuse of network users’ trust becomes the most typical virtual crime. Internet users are interested in reporting the facts of offences in the information space on the condition that the state protects their fundamental freedoms. The creation of closed social networks by criminal organizations and the widening technical opportunities for extortion result in the creation of universal schemes that enrich criminals, who are not only interested in reducing the state’s influence on public relations, but are also trying to establish their dominance in the economic space of information society. The effective policy of law enforcement bodies on counteracting economic crimes in the global information space requires an international consensus regarding the development of public-private partnership in identifying cybercrimes and suppressing criminal practices connected with the use of information technologies.
