Journal of Economic Criminology最新文献

{"title":"Assessing the anticipated impact of the United Nations convention against cybercrime in India and beyond","authors":"Gargi Sarkar,&nbsp;Suleman Lazarus,&nbsp;Sandeep Kumar Shukla","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100246","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100246","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) routinely fail to deliver timely digital evidence or secure cross-border offender accountability. The United Nations Convention against Cybercrime (UNCC), adopted in December 2024, is the most significant multilateral response to this enforcement gap since the Budapest Convention. This paper critically assesses the UNCC's anticipated impact on transnational cybercrime policing, with focused emphasis on India's legal, institutional, and geopolitical position. Using a doctrinal and qualitative methodology, the study evaluates the Convention against four operational bottlenecks: jurisdictional conflict, evidence preservation, real-time data access, and extradition feasibility. The UNCC introduces meaningful procedural advances: 24/7 cooperation channels, expedited evidence preservation, and capacity-building provisions. Yet effectiveness remains contingent on the breadth of ratification, domestic implementation capacity, and political will across geopolitical divides. Definitional ambiguity and expanded surveillance powers risk enabling authoritarian overreach if unaccompanied by enforceable safeguards. For India, the Convention offers a strategic opportunity alongside serious governance challenges. Critical gaps persist in national cybersecurity strategy, state-level police consultation, and protection against politically motivated data requests. The paper concludes that the UNCC's legitimacy ultimately depends on enforceable human rights protections, genuine capacity-building, and robust accountability mechanisms across all ratifying states.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100246"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148934800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Agentic AI and the reasonable duty of cybersecurity: The reasonableness paradox","authors":"Moufid El-Khoury,&nbsp;Jacques Bou Abdo","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100245","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100245","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The proliferation of agentic AI poses various regulatory challenges. The reasonable duty of cybersecurity is a common law duty that was forged by courts to regulate the reasonable security measures expected of organisations. In this context, the main research question consists of examining the impact of agentic AI on the reasonable duty of cybersecurity. More specifically, the paper attempts to address the impact of agentic AI at both the threat management and risk management levels. Drawing mainly on U.S. law, the paper depicts a “reasonableness paradox” created by the complexity of new agentic AI architectures. On one hand, from a threat management perspective, the paper posits that agentic AI increases the legal threshold of reasonableness by broadening the attack surfaces introduced by complex agentic AI architectures. Consequently, the reasonable duty of cybersecurity should be assessed at a multi-layered level and construed by courts as a dynamic, non-static legal standard applied to the various technical layers composing the agentic AI architecture. On the other hand, from a risk management perspective, the open problems related to the foreseeability of risk pertaining to agentic AI undermine directly the judicial recognition of an independent common law duty of cybersecurity founded on a reasonably foreseeable risk of harm. This “reasonableness paradox” would in turn make more complex the traditional balancing of interests when courts are asked to assess the reasonableness of cybersecurity measures in the era of agentic AI.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100245"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148934799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Challenges and enabling conditions in the governance of economic crime: Insights from the UK's National Economic Crime Centre","authors":"Diana Bociga ,&nbsp;Nicholas Lord ,&nbsp;Elisa Bellotti","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100228","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100228","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The National Economic Crime Centre (NECC), established in 2018, was envisioned as a multi-agency hub to coordinate the UK's response to economic crime. Using a collaborative governance lens combined with the concept of the 'superstructural node' from nodal governance theory, this paper offers an analytical account of the enabling conditions for collaborative governance in the UK's response to economic crime, with particular attention to the NECC. Drawing on 22 interviews with senior officials, the analysis examines how conditions such as problem clarity, data access, and agency alignment inform, and at times constrain, collaborative capacity. Crucially, several of those conditions are underpinned by tensions (e.g., between analytical clarity and political utility, between operational dependence and institutional independence, and between coordination authority and partner autonomy) that resist straightforward resolution and make sustained collaboration particularly difficult. These findings point to three core considerations for collaborative efforts: clarifying the problem being addressed and establishing clear prioritisation frameworks; establishing how collaboration is organised and sustained; and specifying clear accountability arrangements. Although grounded in the UK's institutional landscape, these findings speak to broader economic crime governance efforts and multi-agency crime control initiatives more widely.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"12 ","pages":"Article 100228"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148167673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rethinking AML/CFT risk management: Towards a risk strategy for banks","authors":"Sonja Korpela,&nbsp;Timo Rintamäki,&nbsp;Janne Ruohonen","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100229","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100229","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study conceptualises a risk strategy framework for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) through a theory synthesis approach, integrating contributions from four literature streams into a conceptual framework. The framework consists of three interrelated components: Strategic Choice, Organisational Alignment, and Dynamic Capability. Strategic Choice defines the bank’s deliberate strategic position regarding AML/CFT risk exposure. Organisational Alignment operationalises it through the risk governance structures and cultural norms, and Dynamic Capability ensures recalibration under changing conditions, both on strategic and operational levels. The study concludes that effective AML/CFT risk management requires continuous alignment between Strategic Choice and Organisational Alignment; misalignment may cause the organisation to drift from its strategic intent, resulting in unintended or unconscious risk-taking. The framework provides banks with a structured basis for moving beyond reactive compliance toward proactive and strategically coherent risk management. To support practical application, the framework is further operationalised through a three-level typology — reactive, proactive, and strategic — reflecting how AML/CFT Risk Strategy is integrated into the organisation's broader strategy. Although developed in the AML/CFT context, the framework and three-level typology have broader relevance for risk management in highly regulated industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"12 ","pages":"Article 100229"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148167386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Innovation–Fraud amplification in technology-driven firms: Ecosystem-level drivers of corporate misconduct","authors":"Omaya Kuran ,&nbsp;Lara Khabbaz ,&nbsp;Celeste El Choueifaty","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100227","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100227","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Corporate fraud in technology-driven sectors is increasingly recognized as a systemic phenomenon shaped by structural ecosystem conditions rather than solely by individual misconduct. Yet existing fraud frameworks, including the foundational Fraud Triangle and its principal extensions, remain anchored in individual psychology and offer limited theoretical tools for explaining how innovation environments actively amplify the mechanisms of pressure, opportunity, and rationalization. This study addresses that gap by examining how technological innovation ecosystems intensify all three Fraud Triangle dimensions simultaneously through ecosystem-level structural conditions. Using qualitative content analysis of regulatory filings, enforcement actions, court complaints, and government investigations, the study analyses seven major technology-related corporate scandals: OneCoin, Wirecard, WeWork, FTX, Theranos, Nikola, and Robinhood. A directed coding framework derived from the Fraud Triangle is combined with inductive analysis to identify nine amplifier categories recurring across cases. Findings demonstrate that capital-market valuation dynamics and milestone urgency intensify structural pressure; the co-occurrence of founder-dominated governance and proprietary technological opacity produces stacked opportunity structures resistant to both internal and external oversight; and innovation legitimacy narratives and mission-driven moralization institutionalize rationalization at the organizational level. These dynamics reflect what this study conceptualizes as innovation–fraud amplification, a structural configuration in which ecosystem conditions collectively intensify the pressure, opportunity, and rationalization dimensions of fraud. The study introduces fraud amplifiers as analytically distinct from traditional fraud causes or enablers, and advances a multi-level, ecosystem-based framework with practical implications for governance, regulatory design, and independent board oversight in technology-intensive sectors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"12 ","pages":"Article 100227"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148167674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Accounting scripts and the politics of compliance: Understanding accountants’ roles in anti-money laundering through sentiment and script theory","authors":"Mark E. Lokanan","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100207","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100207","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores the role of accountants in anti-money laundering (AML) compliance within Canada's non-banking financial institutions, specifically focusing on the real estate, luxury vehicles, and gaming sectors. By utilizing a unique combination of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) algorithms, along with natural language processing techniques, the research conducts sentiment analysis on the testimonies of accountants who appeared at the Cullen Commission inquiry. Supported by semi-structured interviews with key gatekeepers, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of accountants' perspectives and experiences in AML compliance. The sentiment analysis, utilizing both ML and DL models, reveals a predominance of positive sentiments among the testimonies, indicating overall satisfaction with regulatory frameworks and participation in AML initiatives. Neutral sentiments emphasize the provision of factual descriptions of procedures and regulations, while negative sentiments highlight concerns regarding the effectiveness of AML measures. Applying script theory as a cognitive framework, the study categorizes accountants' cognitive processing into three stages: preexisting schemata, assimilation, and accommodation. These stages illustrate the progression of accountants' perspectives and strategies in response to AML compliance challenges, ranging from reliance on previous experiences and beliefs to the integration of new information and adjustment to regulatory changes. The findings offer fresh insights into the field of accounting scholarship, particularly in critical accounting research. The utilization of advanced DL methods in sentiment analysis represents a methodological innovation, allowing for a deeper comprehension of accountants' roles in AML compliance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"11 ","pages":"Article 100207"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147394572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Do CEO attributes matter in the nexus between board composition and cybersecurity risk disclosure? Evidence from South African firms","authors":"Titus Ayobami Ojeyinka ,&nbsp;Folorunsho M. Ajide ,&nbsp;Reon Matemane","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100208","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100208","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In recent years, regulatory authorities, shareholders, managers, and governance bodies have been more aware of the growing wave of cyber threats and information security breaches and their effects on business operations. Cybersecurity risk disclosure has been recognized as a critical governance approach that minimizes information asymmetry among different and heterogeneous stakeholders to control and limit a firm's exposure to cyberattacks. This study examines the impact of board composition on cybersecurity risk disclosure across 52 South African companies. The study also investigates the role of CEO attributes in the nexus between the two variables. The study applies heteroscedasticity consistent standard error pooled ordinary least square, system generalized method of moment, panel corrected standard errors and Driscoll and Kraay robust standard error methods to control for heteroscedasticity, endogeneity, and cross-sectional dependence respectively among the panel units. The main findings from the study show that gender diversity on the board, board independence, and the frequency of board meetings consistently improve corporate decisions on cybersecurity risk disclosure. In the meantime, the quantity of cybersecurity information in company annual reports does not seem to be significantly impacted by ethnic diversity constantly. At the same time, board size is associated with less disclosure of cyber-related information. The study further documents that CEO education and tenure act as strong moderators and thus shape the impact of board attributes on cybersecurity disclosure. The study highlights the crucial role of CEO attributes in moderating the relationship between board composition and firms' decisions on corporate cybersecurity risk disclosure.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"11 ","pages":"Article 100208"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147394650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Conceptualising and defining the “counterfeit” chameleon","authors":"David Shepherd ,&nbsp;Jeremy M. Wilson ,&nbsp;Tiana Gaudette","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100206","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2026.100206","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Product counterfeiting is a serious, global problem that is increasingly attracting the attention of academics, businesses, brand protection practitioners, law enforcement, and transnational organisations. Previous research found that consumers’ confusion over the definition of the “counterfeit” term fuels the illicit trade. This paper examines definitions published across a range of sectors and shows that there is little consensus as to the meaning of the “counterfeit” term. It has become chameleon term, appearing in different guises depending on the author’s purpose and context. This inevitably leads to uncertainty, confusion and misunderstanding. The article offers a conceptual approach for including which intellectual property infringements sit under the counterfeit umbrella based on the observability principle: the relevant rights represent features that are always visible to an observer, that is, trademark, design, the linking trade dress, and geographical indication. The paper also offers a conceptual framework that distinguishes between essential properties and incidental characteristics and illustrates how the framework can be used to tailor narrative definitions for different audiences without obfuscating the essential meaning of “counterfeit”.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"11 ","pages":"Article 100206"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145977038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Brand protection and counterfeit products: An examination of resourcing","authors":"David Shepherd ,&nbsp;Jeremy M. Wilson ,&nbsp;Tiana Gaudette","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100202","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100202","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>For firms operating in the global marketplace, effective brand protection is a critical defence against competitive risks. Firms allocate resources both internally and externally to protect their brand from the threat posed by counterfeit products. However, little is known about firms’ brand protection resourcing in general, and their reliance on external professional suppliers in particular. Drawing on prior research and interviews with anti-counterfeiting and brand protection practitioners representing 35 multi-national firms, this study provides actionable insights into the resourcing problem. It finds that the level of investment in anti-counterfeiting activities varies very widely, though is generally very low. Using a ‘resource orientation’ model, the study finds that firms are typically externally orientated, mostly relying on the services of external professionals. This creates a range of risks that must be managed, including cost, control, capability and corrupt behaviours. Low internal resourcing makes management of these external risks a significant challenge. Key impediments to adequate resourcing are indifferent leadership and the inability to quantify the return on investment from brand protection activities. The study concludes with a discussion of avenues for future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"11 ","pages":"Article 100202"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145571878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Strategic choices in money laundering: Smurfing, layering, and financial over-diversification","authors":"Alfredo Contreras ,&nbsp;Edgar Villa Pérez","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100199","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100199","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Money laundering enables criminal organizations to integrate illicit funds into the legal economy while evading detection, posing significant challenges for regulators and policymakers. We develop a formal framework to examine criminal organizations’ choice between two money laundering methods. Smurfing is a low-risk but high-cost strategy that disperses illicit funds through consumption and investment in the real sector, whereas asset laundering is a lower-cost yet higher-risk strategy operating through the financial system and relying on extensive transaction layering and portfolio diversification to avoid detection. Our analysis shows that anti-money laundering (AML) policies which increase the detection risk for asset laundering can unintentionally reallocate illicit funds toward smurfing. This displacement effect undermines policy goals by expanding illicit money flows in the legitimate real economy. These findings underscore the importance of anticipating criminals’ adaptive behavior and accounting for the substitutability of laundering methods when designing AML policies that coordinate enforcement across both the financial and real sectors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"11 ","pages":"Article 100199"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145737015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}