There are multiple factors that hinder law enforcement agencies attempting to combat serious and organized crime using traditional means: In the following sections, we will explore the ways these criminal organizations are using technology and globalization to spread out, both horizontally into different types of criminal activities and vertically in terms of the scale of those activities. It often emerges from countries experiencing poverty, war, displacement, bureaucracy, and corruption, which may not have resources and personnel for law enforcement. It is highly tech-savvy, with increasingly sophisticated tools to accomplish its goals and hide from law enforcement agencies. It is expanding, both globally and into a broader range of criminal activities, making use of extensive hidden networks of connections (to individuals, groups, and governments worldwide). 10 https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/6240-ngo-transnational-organized-crime-groups-make-us-2-2-trillion-a-year 11 originally https://www.skyecc.com/challenge/ , cited in https://threatpost.com/europol-arrests-cracked-sky-ecc/164744/ 12 https://insightcrime.org/news/analysis/brazil-gang-finances-pcc/ 13 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1066745/gross-national-income-per-capita-brazil/ The amount of money involved is clear from recent headlines: THE CRIMINAL ECONOMY Due to its very nature, there is no way to know exactly how profitable serious and organized crime really is, but current estimates are around $2.2 trillion—and growing. 10 Money laundering alone represents potentially up to half that figure, according to U.S. government estimates. 2021 Just months before being taken down, the encrypted phone network Sky ECC announced on its site, “We're so confident SKY ECC is unbeatable, we'll give US $5,000,000 to anyone who can beat our device and encryption.” 11 2019 With the capture of Fuminho, the head of Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), Brazil’s largest OCG, “the São Paulo Attorney General's Office estimated the PCC's earnings stood at around 800 million reais ($145 million) a year.” 12 (particularly dramatic given Brazil’s GNI per capita is only $9,13013) 2021 The Rohingya crisis increased public awareness about the hundreds of people being trafficked for years on illegal ships, driving illegal migration, and adding to the overall financial cost of migrant smuggling in SE Asia, estimated to be $132-196M. Over half a million Rohingya migrants have paid $2,000-$3,000 to be smuggled illegally out of Myanmar so far. These dollar figures and major headlines, as already mentioned, are just the tip of the iceberg. But even these are substantial enough to convince anyone that the rest of the iceberg is overwhelmingly large. "Serious and organized crime is estimated to be $2.2 trillion-and growing" - Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project 6