Combating Illegal Drugs Trafficking Using the Internet by Means of the Profiling Method

The paper actualizes the issues of combating drug trafficking using the Internet on the example of Ukraine. Given the significant difference in the approach to this issue among Ukrainian and foreign scientists, this allowed to carry out a multifaceted analysis. The purpose of the article is to conduct a comprehensive study (criminological and forensic) on the use of the Internet in the commission of crimes related to drug trafficking, on the example of Ukraine. Profiling was used as the main method. The novelty of this work is the extrapolation of the method of profiling cybercriminals to persons who commit illicit drug distribution using the Internet in Ukraine as a special category of cybercriminals. The specific objectives of the study are: to study the characteristics of an offender who commits crimes related to drug trafficking via the Internet using the method of profiling; study of typical investigative situations that arise when committing crimes related to drug trafficking on the Internet; development of comprehensive recommendations for combating this group of crimes, taking into account both the identity of an offender and investigative situations that most often arise in practice. Based on the study, the article conducted (using secondary data) profiling of people who distribute drugs using the Internet in Ukraine. The profiling also includes a comprehensive portrait of such a criminal, which includes both socio-demographic and psychological characteristics of this category of criminals, studied their motivation, conducted a study of the victimological aspect and features of the study of evidence in this category of crimes.