Crimes don’t happen on the deep dark web. Instead, criminals operate in plain sight, on the platforms with the greatest reach - Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, etc. Our experts, who come from a variety of sectors, are using this publicly available information to map out how criminal networks work on a global scale. With this research, we are working to change industry-wide behavior and reduce the scale of online trafficking. Learn about the issues that we are working on.
Some posts advertise puppies that had been sired by champion fighters. Others show dogs chained up in compounds. There are images of dogs mauling each other, displaying telltale scars and open wounds. Many posts boast about how many fights the featured dog has won.
Read MoreMexican drug cartels and other violent criminal gangs like MS-13 have weaponized social media, using the Internet as a literal force multiplier to intimidate, stalk and extort their victims.
Read MoreEvery year, thousands of people get sucked into romance scams on social media, a burgeoning problem that the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center calculates cost American victims more than $475 million in losses in 2019 alone.
Read MoreThe Internet -- and especially social media platforms -- revolutionized the way people communicate, share knowledge and ideas, and distribute information. And while this global connectivity has often been a force for good, tech platforms have also enabled extremist groups to propagandize, radicalize, recruit new members, broadcast attacks and even fundraise on an unprecedented scale.
Read MoreProbably no other form of online fraud affects more people than fake online reviews. Twenty-first century consumers rely heavily on online reviews in making purchasing decisions, and surveys such as a 2018 Pew study show that American consumers largely trust online reviews.
Read MoreWith people in pandemic lockdown around the globe, and the world reeling from a mass extinction crisis, it might surprise you to learn that the world’s biggest markets for illegal wildlife products and exotic pets are located on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and China’s WeChat.
Read MoreSocial media platforms, in particular Facebook, have facilitated the explosive growth of the illegal antiquities trade. A global network of traders, traffickers, and even terrorist groups use platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp to buy and sell looted antiquities.
Read MoreIn 2018, ACCO expert Eileen Carey confronted two employees at Facebook Inc. about the quantity of illegal drugs posts on Facebook and Instagram.
Read MoreThere is a thriving online trade in human skeletal remains of actual or alleged archaeological, ethnographic, historic or recent anatomical origin.
Read MoreThe coronavirus pandemic has upended daily life and strained the global economy. Criminal networks, however, are taking advantage of the new world order, especially the fact that lockdown means people are spending more time than ever online.
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