Criminal online activities have recently become much bolder and grown in frequency and number, defrauding private individuals and legitimate enterprises. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly boosted online communications, and criminal networks have stepped up their illicit activities to abuse the internet for large-scale fraudulent schemes.

Eurojust’s cybercrime activities spanned many areas in 2021, including ransomware, artificial intelligence, encryption, and cybercrime as a service. Cybercrime products published by Eurojust in 2021 include: the Cybercrime Judicial Monitor, the EU Digital Evidence Situation Report, and the Third report of the observatory function on encryption.

 Overview of cases by crime type in 2021