Routes into Organised Crime and Fraud

Abstract

Drawing on interviews with 31 convicted fraudsters, this chapter explores the complex and multifaceted routes into organised crime and fraud. For the majority of offenders, their involvement in organised crime and fraud was the result of an intentional and conscious choice. Whilst for others, their route into organised crime and fraud was through recruitment (ranging from ‘targeted’ to ‘serendipitous’) by existing organised crime groups and therefore unintentional and often the result of a constrained choice. The chapter outlines how ‘environmental opportunities’ such as criminal, social, and business circles have an important role to play in facilitating organised criminality. The chapter considers the interplay between intention (whether it was a deliberate or constrained choice) and facilitation (whether existing work or social connections facilitated routes into organised crime) whilst highlighting the role of opportunism and how the exploitation of these opportunities facilitates routes into organised criminality.