By Kotie Geldenhuys;
Photos/images courtesy of Unsplash, Pexels and Pixabay
Organised crime reaches every part of the globe, casting a deep shadow over the private sector. Criminal networks present serious threats to businesses in numerous ways, from extortion and fraud to money laundering and infiltration of legitimate enterprises. These activities bring about financial and operational challenges and erode trust and compliance within the business world.
Organised crime groups often engage in extortion, demand protection fees and even resort to kidnapping employees, while stealing valuable company assets. Extortion drains financial resources, causes fear among staff and can lead to the closure of businesses. It creates a significant operational and financial burden, especially for smaller businesses. Sometimes they infiltrate or seize entire businesses to advance their operations. In these cases, legitimate enterprises are manipulated and used as vehicles for money laundering, counterfeiting, drug trafficking and other criminal activities (Zabyelina and Thachuk, 2022). The report, entitled Transnational organised crime and the impact on the private sector: the hidden battalions, published by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), revealed how organised crime impacts six key private sector industries: financial services; technology; consumer goods and retail; construction and real estate; transport and logistics; as well as natural resources. The study uncovered various criminal activities that either directly affect these industries or use them as vehicles for illicit actions (Cartwright and Bones, 2017).
*******************************
[This is only an extract of an article that is published in Servamus: January 2025. This article is available for purchase.]