David Décary-Hétu

Université de Montréal | UdeM · School of Criminology

Modeling the impact of police crackdowns on criminal networks is a complex problem. A single strategy can indeed have very different results depending on the setting, and the targeted criminal networks. When evaluating police crackdowns that seek to disrupt the cohesion of criminal networks, and in turn their level of activity, some research has fo...

Purpose. Based on the crime script approach, the main objective of this study was to identify steps involved in firearms trafficking in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Our analysis focused on actions performed by actors, facilitating conditions, obstacles and errors for each step of the firearms trafficking process. Method. A deductive thematic an...

Purpose Drug cryptomarkets increase information available to market actors, which should reduce information asymmetry and increase market efficiency. This study aims to determine whether cryptomarket listings accurately represent the advertised substance, weight or number and purity, and whether there are differences in products purchased from the...

Research summary Crackdowns are law enforcement strategies based on the principles of deterrence theory, which stipulates that offenders are rational actors who will refrain from crime if perceived risks are higher than perceived benefits. Studies have shown that the effects of police street drug crackdowns are mostly short termed and followed by c...

Drug cryptomarkets are a significant development in the recent history of illicit drug markets. Dealers and buyers can now finalize transactions with people they have never met, who could be located anywhere across the globe. What factors shape the geography of international drug trafficking via these cryptomarkets? In our current study, we test th...

Since its emergence in the early 1990s, the Sinaloa Cartel has effectively surmounted all challenges to its existence, while, simultaneously, successfully developing its illegal ventures in Mexico and beyond. Based on evidence from the accounts of witnesses who testified in the prosecution of Joaquin Guzmán Loera (also known as El Chapo), one of th...

Contemporary wildlife trade is massively facilitated by the Internet. By design, the dark web is one layer of the Internet that is difficult to monitor and continues to lack thorough investigation. Here, we accessed a comprehensive database of dark web marketplaces to search across c. 2 million dark web advertisements over 5 years using c. 7 k wild...

Purpose: This paper explores the concept of criminal expertise within the context of online pedophile community and applies rational choice theory to understand the decision-making processes of offenders. Specifically, this study aims to explore the cybersecurity concerns of dark web pedophile forum users known to be a hard-to-reach offender popula...

Research shows that customers are insufficiently motivated to protect themselves from crimes that may derive from data theft within an organization. Instead, the burden of security is placed upon the businesses that host their personal information. Companies that fail to sufficiently secure their customers’ information thus risk experiencing potent...

L’échange et l’acquisition de compétences de cybersécurité sur le dark web par la communauté pédophile font partis de la sous-culture pédophile sur Internet. Dans cette perspective, cette étude s’intéresse au processus d’enculturation en matière de cybersécurité par les utilisateurs de forums pédophiles sur le dark web et est encadrée par l’approch...

Résumé exécutif Peu études ont été menées sur les modes d’acquisition des armes à feu par les délinquants au Québec. Le peu d’études empêchent de bâtir des politiques publiques ou des stratégies de prévention basées sur des données probantes et spécifiques à la situation québécoise. Le présent projet a pour objectif général de décrire et comprendr...

Résumé exécutif du rapport Contexte et mandat Afin de prévenir la violence par arme à feu, le gouvernement du Canada a introduit le projet de loi C-21 qui prévoit entre autres : 1) un gel de toutes les transactions d’arme de poing, 2) un système de drapeaux rouges et jaunes permettant aux autorités compétentes de confisquer pour une période de 30...

Specialization in criminal activities generally refers to offenders that repeat the same or similar offenses over time. While some research has found support for offender specialization, most empirical studies suggest that most offenders engage in various forms of offenses during their criminal trajectory and fail to specialize in a specific offens...

Criminal capital theory suggests more experienced offenders receive higher returns from crime. Offenders who accrue skills over their criminal career are better able to minimize detection, increase profits, and navigate illegal markets. Yet shifts in the offending landscape to technologically-dependent crimes have led some to suggest that the skill...

Despite their growing popularity, cryptomarkets generate risks for participants. This has promoted the reemergence of a more personal transaction model on the dark web: single vendor shops. To date, little is known about how single vendors display trust to attract potential customers without relying on the structural trust provided by cryptomarkets...

Background and Aims In the months following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA; 2020) observed an increased use of cryptomarkets, which led them to question whether cryptomarkets constituted a more convenient channel via which to distribute illicit drugs without any in-person cont...

In the criminal underworld, transactions generate risk for the parties involved, but in contrast to legal markets, parties are unable to turn to legal recourse when cheated in a transaction. Past research has found that many strategies can be used to manage conflicts, including self-help strategies (vengeance, discipline and rebellion, avoidance, n...

The digital world represents a new frontier for law enforcement operations. The virtual nature of online communications creates challenges regarding legal frameworks and sovereignty that are exacerbated by the inherent context of the digital world, the current state of policing expertise and resources and the detection and reporting rates of cyberc...

The size of the global market for illicit tobacco products is estimated to be between USD$8.6 and USD$11.6 billion yearly. In addition to an estimated cost of USD$40.5 billion in lost tax revenue the illicit tobacco market further increases the accessibility of a harmful substance for minors and provides a revenue stream for both organised crime an...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented consequences on the world economy. The impact of the pandemic on illicit drug market remains scant. We expose the potential consequences the COVID-19 pandemic could have on the ability of people who use drugs to source their illicit drugs via cryptomarkets. Methods We analyzed 262 self-reporte...

Online drug markets taking advantage of social media and encryption software (e.g. Tor network) and cryptocurrencies (e.g. Bitcoin, Monero) to conceal the identity and physical location of their users are a relatively new area of internet research. Yet, a range of socio-technical innovations have contributed to the proliferation of drug markets on...

Dans le présent article, il est question de décrire les activités marchandes des cardeurs sur les cryptomarchés au moyen d’un échantillon de 17 619 annonces de produits ou de services relatifs au carding ainsi que d’un second échantillon recensant les activités de 4 294 vendeurs. Notre démarche s’attache plus précisément à constater si l’avènement...

Globally, tobacco is responsible for the death of approximately 6 million individuals per year. In reaction, governments have enacted tobacco control policies that cope with the harmful effects of the drug. However, these policies have also created geographic price disparities and increased the effort needed to purchase legal tobacco products. The...

Background: Nonmedical prescription psychiatric drug use (NMPDU) is an increasing global health problem, with recent concern focusing on darknet cryptomarkets as sources of procurement. There is a shortage of evidence regarding comparative worldwide NMPDU trends, due in part to data collection difficulties. This problem is particularly marked for...

This article explores how online drug sellers interact on cryptomarket discussion forums. The results suggest that the sellers’ interactions are modulated by their status as sellers. Sellers fuse two roles to adjust their status, combining the role of entrepreneur and the role of volunteer expert. As entrepreneurs, sellers post promotional messages...

Cryptomarkets are online illicit marketplaces where drug dealers advertise the sale of illicit drugs. Anonymizing technologies such as the Tor network and virtual currencies are used to hide cryptomarket participants’ identity and to limit the ability of law enforcement agencies to make arrests. In this paper, our aim is to describe how herbal cann...

Objective To examine the effect on the trade in opioids through online illicit markets (“cryptomarkets”) of the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s ruling in 2014 to reschedule hydrocodone combination products. Design Interrupted time series analysis. Setting 31 of the world’s largest cryptomarkets operating from October 2013 to July 2016. Main...

Supplementary information: appendix tables 1 and 2

La recherche scientifique cherche la plupart du temps à comprendre la nature mais se tourne aussi à l’occasion vers elle-même pour mieux comprendre la genèse des connaissances scientifiques. Cette quête s’est traduite par une littérature importante portant sur les réseaux de collaborations entre auteurs pour produire des textes scientifiques. L’obj...

Cet article vise à décrire les influences intellectuelles de la revue Criminologie . Pour ce faire, les 19 813 références faites par les articles publiés dans la revue Criminologie au cours des 40 dernières années sont analysées de manière à dégager l’influence qu’elles ont pu avoir sur les auteurs de la revue. Les auteurs, revues et disciplines le...

Objective There is broad agreement in the literature on the transformative potential of drug cryptomarkets that allow sourcing on a global market and consequently the circumvention of existing supply chains between producer and end user. We examine whether the transformative potential of drug cryptomarkets has been realized in two ways: Are cryptom...

There is broad agreement in the literature on the transformative potential of drug cryptomarkets, which allow sourcing on a global market and consequently the circumvention of existing supply chains between producer and end-user. We examine whether the transformative potential of drug cryptomarkets has been realized in two ways: Are cryptomarket dr...

Background: Since 2011, drug market participants have traded illegal drugs through cryptomarkets, a user-friendly infrastructure in which drug market participants can conduct business transactions. This study assesses market competition and the size and scope of drug vendors' activities on one of the largest cryptomarkets, AlphaBay, in order to be...

Despite numerous regulations, methamphetamine consumption persists; its availability has even increased in the United States. Methamphetamine is produced in small labs and super labs that are differentiated by the quantity of drug they generate and by how they are embedded in trafficking networks. The stagnant statistics regarding methamphetamine c...

Despite a shared focus on crime and its ‘extended family’, forensic scientists and criminologists tend to work in isolation rather than sharing the data, methods and knowledge that will broaden the understanding of the criminal phenomenon and its related subjects. Bringing together perspectives from international experts, this book explores the in...

The illicit trade of tobacco products is a global phenomenon that has impacted the public health, the public finances and the security of nation states. A wide array of actors is involved in the illicit trade of tobacco, ranging from the individuals who bring home a few extra cartons of cigarettes while on a trip to the organized criminal organizat...

Drawing on Sutherland’s theory of behaviour systems in crime, this study investigates social media fraud (SMF) facilitated by botnets to understand the onset and maturation of this new online offending behaviour. We find legitimate actors in the system – Internet of Things manufacturers, online social networks, hosting companies and law enforcement...

Organizations involved in the sale of illicit products and services have been described as small, ephemeral, and local rather than global. Given their limited size, such organizations are often unable to attract large pools of customers, but it has been noted that organizations that manage to build a small but loyal customer base are likely to be m...

Background: Australia has a reputation as an anomaly with regard to cryptomarket drug trading, with seemingly disproportionately high levels of activity given its relatively small size, high prices and anecdotal accounts of it being a destination where many foreign-based vendors will not sell. This paper aims to investigate these claims from a risk...

The size of a social media account's audience -- in terms of followers or friends count -- is believed to be a good measure of its influence and popularity. To gain quick artificial popularity on online social networks (OSN), one can buy likes, follows and views, from social media fraud (SMF) services. SMF is the generation of likes, follows and vi...

AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD FREE HERE: https://goo.gl/8YUN7o Illegal drug markets have been described as “stateless” systems. Drug dealers, moreover, are commonly considered to have a predilection toward the use of violence to resolve disputes arising from dealing activities. While some studies have undermined this popular perception, new trends surrou...

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of online illicit markets where participants can purchase and sell a wide range of goods and services such as drugs, hacking services, and stolen financial information. Second-generation markets, known as cryptomarkets, provide a pseudo-anonymous platform from which to operate and have attracted the a...

The potential role of the Internet in facilitating drugs trade first gained mass attention with the rise and fall of Silk Road; the first major online market place for illegal goods on the hidden web. After Silk Road was taken down by the FBI in October 2013, it was only a matter of weeks before copycats filled the void. Today, there are around 50...

Cryptomarkets represent a new innovation for illegal goods trafficking, where drugs are predominantly found. After an overview of the features these sites offer, to understand the virtual world in which users operate, a critical analysis of existing criminological studies suggests a forensic support to better understand how to relate this world ess...

Cryptomarkets are online marketplaces that are part of the Dark Web and mainly devoted to the sale of illicit drugs. They combine tools to ensure anonymity of participants with the delivery of products by mail to enable the development of illicit drug trafficking. Using data collected on eight cryptomarkets, this study provides an overview of the C...

Background: In spite of globalizing processes 'offline' retail drug markets remain localized and - in recent decades - typically 'closed', in which dealers sell primarily to known customers. We characterize drug cryptomarkets as 'anonymous open' marketplaces that allow the diffusion of drugs across locales. Where cryptomarket customers make stock-...

Background: In spite of globalizing processes ‘offline’ retail drug markets remain localized and – in recent decades – typically ‘closed’, in which dealers sell primarily to known customers. We characterize drug cryptomarkets as ‘anonymous open’ marketplaces that allow the diffusion of drugs across locales. Where cryptomarket customers make stock-s...

This paper focuses on criminals who could easily be labelled as entrepreneurs and who deal in compromised computer systems. Known as botmasters, these individuals use their technical skills to take over and control personal, business and governmental com- puters. These networks of hijacked computers are known as botnets in the security industry. Wi...

Malicious hackers profit from the division of labour among highly skilled associates. However, duplicity and betrayal form an intrinsic part of their daily operations. This article examines how a community of hackers uses an automated reputation system to enhance trust among its members. We analyse 449,478 feedbacks collected over 27 months that ra...

The leading aim of Dolliver's (2015)) paper “Evaluating drug trafficking on the Tor Network: Silk Road 2, the sequel” is to document changes in the size and structure of cryptomarkets following the demise of SILK ROAD 1 (SR1) using data she collected from SILK ROAD 2 (SR2), which she casts as successor to its namesake. There are undoubted strengths...

Governments and private firms have sought to regulate online piracy through legislation, police enforcement, and lawsuits. This article evaluates the effectiveness of large-scale police operations that targeted the warez scene, the community of hackers responsible for much of the copyrighted content illegally distributed online. Using interrupted t...

The Internet is now an irreplaceable source of news and communication. While traditional data-gathering techniques such as surveys and interviews have proven useful in this environment, we believe that the monitoring of online communities will provide new and innovative datasets that will greatly enhance our comprehension of the criminal phenomenon...

Full-text free here: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2436643 The online cryptomarket Silk Road has been oft-characterised as an ‘eBay for drugs’ with customers drug consumers making personal use-sized purchases. Our research demonstrates that this was not the case. Using a bespoke web crawler, we downloaded all drugs listings on Silk Road in September 2...

Criminals have taken advantage of the Internet's features to create worldwide marketplaces where illegal goods and services can be instantly bought and sold anonymously. This article focuses on an online forum that served as a transactional platform for criminals involved in the illicit trade of credit and banking information. Using Gambetta's adap...

This paper focuses on criminals who could easily be labelled as entrepreneurs and who deal in compromised computer systems. Known as botmasters, these individuals use their technical skills to take over and control personal, business and governmental computers. These networks of hijacked computers are known as botnets in the security industry. With...

There have been growing claims in media circles and law-enforcement settings that street gangs and criminal groups are turning to Internet-based social networking sites for various reasons ranging from the showcasing of their images and exploits to the suspected recruitment of members. The present study investigates whether such a trend is, in fact...

Social researchers are facing more and more challenges as criminal networks are expanding in size and moving to the Internet. Many efforts are currently under way to enhance the technical capabilities of researchers working in the field of cybercrimes. Rather than focusing on the technical tools that could enhance research performance, this article...

Objectives. This article seeks to describe and understand the social organization as well as the distribution of recognition in the online community (also known as the warez scene) of hackers who illegally distribute intellectual property online. Method. The data were collected from an online index that curates a list of illegal content that was ma...