National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

smart because people will be contacted as members of a particular community.
Whereas phishers used to limit themselves mainly to English-speaking countries,
phishing emails are now well known all over the world and are written in the
local language.
These developments explain the increasing number of phishing incidents
reported to the police, and the increase in the number of websites and reports
received by Internet security companies and other organisations. It is expected
that the scale of phishing will continue to increase in the coming years.
5.5.7 Conclusion
To date, the direct loss incurred as a result of phishing in the Netherlands
appears to be less than had been feared. The loss of reputation of banks is more
important. New technological applications are expected to result in an increased
number of phishing cases and more direct and indirect losses. However, it is
difficult to estimate the loss that will be incurred in the next four years. If we
take the US as an example, a major increase might be expected. However,
internet banking is set up differently in the Netherlands. The scale of the
damage in the Netherlands will mainly depend on the security levels of systems
and computers in the Netherlands compared to other countries. If the security
of Dutch systems and computers is better, the globally operating fraudsters will
mainly target people in countries where their chances of success are greater.
If this is not the case, the losses in the Netherlands will increase. As a result,
phishing is qualified as a conditional threat.
5.6 Misuse of businesses
5.6.1 Introduction and scope
The misuse of businesses for criminal purposes is the subject of this section.
Legitimate society is used to facilitate and mask illegal activities. This
phenomenon was already discussed in NTA 2004 and at the time it was
qualified as a threat.
5.6.2 General context
If people have authority over businesses in the form of shares or as owners and
board members, they have a certain power that can be used to influence the
activities of that business. This authority is important to criminal organisations,
as they can use these businesses when carrying out their criminal activities.
chapter 5 – Criminal modus operandi
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