Beware that as the nation falls into more and more economic and social chaos even if you are fortunate enough to be living in a neighborhood where drive by shootings are not in vogue you could still be easily targeted by gang warfare in cyberspace. More and more gangs across the United States are proving their members have brains and may have made it in society if they had been given a fair chance by turning to sophisticated white collar online crime.
Jennifer Booton has reported for FoxBusiness "From the Streets to Cyberspace: U.S. Gangs Turn to White-Collar Crime." The FBI says that national gangs such as the Bloods and Crips are becoming more sophisticated and are turning to white-collar financial crime and cyber attacks which threaten Corporate America and, well just about everyone. It appears that the evolving criminal schemes such as mortgage fraud, counterfeiting, bank and credit card fraud and identity theft, are attractive to gangs because they are much less risky than traditional gang-related crimes such as murder, drug trafficking and robbery. There is also the potential for larger profits with cyber crimes.
These gangs, which also include the Latin Kings, Aryan Brotherhood and Texas Syndicate, are growing in size. Their membership is up 30% to 1.4 million compared with 2009, according to the FBI who says they are becoming more dangerous. The FBI has said “Gangs are more adaptable, organized, sophisticated, and opportunistic, exploiting new and advanced technology as a means to recruit, communicate discretely, target their rivals, and perpetuate their criminal activity.”
According to the FBI gangs such as the Bloods, Crips and La Nuestra Familia that are involed in white-collar crime are recruiting members who possess the necessary high-tech skills. It appears that some of these criminal gangs are so sophisticated they could run corporations. The gangs are turning more towards counterfeiting and identity theft. They are using methods such as skimming to steal account numbers from ATMs or retail card readers.
