The report found that “virtual currencies have already had a significant impact on various types of criminal activity facilitating the exchange of funds between criminal actors and giving rise to a flourishing black-market economy on Darknet marketplaces” ( Europol 2015, p.
Europol’s 2015 report, Exploring Tomorrow’s Organised Crime, found a connection between the use of cryptocurrencies and illicit trade by organized criminal networks on the Dark Web. The elusive nature of dark, encrypted, and untraceable online technologies is an appeal for anyone looking to hide illicit activities-it is also a significant obstacle for authorities seeking to track the actors engaging in illicit behavior. 1493 2016) and the European Commission ( European Commission 2017). The recognition of illicit cultural property a terror financing threat that has also precipitated policy moves from the United States ( H.R. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to issue a formal warning to dealers and collectors to take extra care in their due diligence of Middle Eastern artifacts ( Federal Bureau of Investigation 2015). The rise of antiquities trafficking by terror groups ( Terrill 2017) has prompted the U.S. Terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, also known as Daesh and ISIL) have used the trafficking of illicit antiquities from the Middle East and North Africa as a source of financing since shortly after the group’s rise to power in 2014 ( Gupta 2016 United States Department of State 2015 Al-Azm et al. The grey nature of the art market ( Mackenzie and Yates 2016) allows for antiquities to be easily laundered through online sales, falsified documentation, and underground person-to-person trade ( May 2017). The evidence of illicit antiquities trafficking on the Dark Web displayed in this article can generate a new discussion on how and where to study black-market antiquities to gain needed insight into combating the illicit trade online and the transnational criminal groups it may finance.Īrt and antiquities are often a frequent target of theft, looting, and trafficking by organized criminals and violent extremists. Investigative research using cyber security platforms to identify digital artifacts connected to potential traffickers provides the opportunity to unmask the seemingly untraceable actors behind these activities. The anonymity that is offered by these technologies acts as a roadblock for authorities, while attracting the likes of terrorists and transnational criminals. While art and antiquities have long served as a market with susceptibilities to laundering, the emergence of Dark Web markets, identification-masking software, and untraceable cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have opened new doors to potential vulnerabilities. The globalization of technology and rise of popularity in cryptocurrencies has changed the face of black-market trade and the actors that carry out these crimes. Since the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, also known as Daesh and ISIL) in 2014, antiquities have been a widely publicized source of funding for what has become one of the most technologically savvy terrorist organizations of the modern era.
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