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The main determinants of fraud and other crimes committed using electronic means of payment in Russia and China

Обновлено 25.01.2024 06:19

 

In the article, the author examines the main determinants of fraud and other crimes committed using electronic means of payment in Russia and China. The functional and technical determinants of crimes in this area are specified.

 

Keywords: determinants of crime, fraud using electronic means of payment, high technologies, crime prevention, the Criminal Code of Russia, the Criminal Code of China.

 

The study of the determinants of criminal behavior is an urgent criminological task, the solution of which can contribute to the development of recommendations for the prevention of certain types of crimes. Due to the fact that fraud and a number of other crimes can be associated with the use of electronic means of payment, there is a need to study the impact of scientific and technological progress on the qualitative change in the ways of committing crimes. In this regard, it is necessary to investigate the main causes and conditions contributing to the commission of these crimes. At the same time, we will proceed from the fact that both the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China have relatively recently made a wide range of large-scale economic transformations, and the introduction of market mechanisms into the economy has quickly led to a modification of crime in the economic sphere.

With the adoption of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter - the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) in 1996, the legislator made an attempt to establish responsibility for crimes in the field of computer information by providing a special chapter in the system of the Special part of the Code, which includes three elements of crimes related to access to such information. 52% of crimes in the field of computer information are related to the theft of funds <1>, as a result of which fraud using electronic means of payment eventually became criminalized.

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<1> Vasilenko N.A. Crimes in the field of information technology (cybercrime) // Start in science. 2016. N 1. pp. 31-34.

 

In the People's Republic of China, the awareness of the need to actively counter this part of crime occurred back in the 80s of the XX century, which allowed, in the context of market reforms, to establish control over most areas of economic activity, partially protecting them from criminal encroachments. Even in the Resolution "On Combating Serious Economic crimes", approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council in 1982, it was stated that fraud for the purpose of enrichment can be disguised as an ordinary civil obligation <2>.

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<2> Imamov E.Z. Criminal law of the People's Republic of China. Theoretical issues of the General part. M.: Nauka, 1990. p. 61.

 

For the purpose of scientific analysis of the determinants of these crimes, it seems possible to conditionally differentiate them into functional (including a causal complex traditionally distinguished in criminology based on economic, political, social, and legal contradictions) and technical (characterizing the development of scientific and technological progress and the use of its achievements for criminal purposes).

First of all, their genesis is influenced by economic reasons. As you know, the economic transformations carried out in Russia in the early 90s of the XX century were of a "shock" nature and led to a sharp increase in crime. In particular, there was a redistribution of state property between private entities, many of which lobbied for the interests of organized crime <3>; the share of the shadow economy began to amount to 50% of GDP <4>, and the high degree of corruption of public servants deformed legal economic relations <5>.

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<3> Piskotin M.I. Russia in the XXI century: an unfinished tragedy. Moscow: Forum, 2001. P. 21.

<4> Bogomolov V.A. The scale of the shadow economy and economic security of the Russian Federation. Moscow: ROAT, 2010. P. 7.

<5> Sukharev A.Ya. Criminalization of the economy and corruption - a threat to economic security countries / Economic crime and corruption: collection of scientific tr. M.: Norm, 2003. pp. 6 - 8.

 

Another way to counteract crime, including in the economic sphere, in China is to establish a strict system of control and supervision.

It has a negative impact on crime and the financial crisis. Taking into account this circumstance, as well as the high proportion of settlements using electronic means of payment (in Russia it accounts for about 80% of all transactions conducted with their help <6>, in China it is even higher, since the largest payment systems carry out up to 175 million transactions per day <7>), it can be concluded that that the volume of operations determines the commission of crimes of the named group, since it makes it difficult to promptly identify and suppress them.

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<6> Bank cards and other electronic means of payment: competition intensifies // Banker. 2017. April 25.

<7> What is the reason for the growth of Internet and mobile payments in China // Habr.

 

Considering the political contradictions in the system of determinants of crimes committed in the field of high technology, it is necessary to pay attention to two key positions. The first of them is lobbying the interests of certain social groups in the government structure and alienating most of the population from the management of public affairs. In this regard, it should be noted that the mechanism of public administration in the People's Republic of China is based on a one-party system, while in the Russian Federation the current vertical of power is rather clumsy and does not always respond promptly to new challenges and threats to economic security. The second is the turbulence of the political system, determined by both internal and external factors. In particular, both the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China are under economic sanctions (against the Russian Federation, as is known, they were introduced in 2014 by the European Union, the United States, Australia, against the People's Republic of China - the United States, including due to insufficient protection of intellectual property).

The negative impact of political contradictions is amplified by the processes of globalization. Currently, there is an increase in the global social stratification into super-rich countries and super-poor; multinational corporations are increasing their political influence in almost all regions of the planet. In this regard, countering crimes committed using high technologies becomes difficult. In addition, in the absence of a consolidated mechanism of cooperation between countries in this area, it is impossible to ensure a prompt response to their commission.

Among the social determinants of crime, the marginalization of a part of society, an increase in the number of people living below the poverty line, and an increase in the level of social tension are traditionally noted <8>. These factors are relevant for both Russia and China (in Russia, more than 20 million people (13.2% of the population) have incomes below the subsistence minimum <9>, in China - 114.4 million (8% of the population) <10>). However, their impact on the dynamics of crimes committed in the field of high technology does not seem to be deep enough. As a rule, such citizens are involved in the commission of other crimes, although, for example, their personal data can be used in this case.

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<8> Kuznetsova N.F. Problems of criminological determination. M.: Publishing House of Moscow State University, 1984. pp. 33-35.

<9> Rosstat estimated the number of poor in Russia // Vedomosti. 2018. May 16.

<10> Plessky N.S. Poverty in modern China. The main features and regional differences // Fundamental research. 2015. N 2. pp. 443 - 447.

 

Among the legal contradictions included in the complex of determinants of crimes committed using high technologies, it is necessary to name, first of all, the untimely establishment of legal regulation and its belated correction. Both circumstances facilitate the introduction of new methods of criminal enrichment and make it possible to conceal what has been done. It should be noted that the first regulations related to the field of high technology were adopted in Russia and China in the early 90s of the last century, but the subject of their regulation was rather related to the protection of intellectual property.

In 2001, the European Convention on Computer Crimes (Budapest Convention against Cybercrime) was developed <11>. In addition to the most important definitions (computer data, flow data, computer system) It contains obligations regarding the establishment of criminal liability for unlawful access, unlawful interception, and unlawful influence on computer information. Article 8 of the Convention recommends that signatory States take the legislative and other measures necessary to qualify as criminal offences under its domestic law - if committed intentionally and unlawfully - the deprivation of another person's property by entering, modifying, blocking computer data or any interference with the functioning of a computer system. A sign of this act is a fraudulent or dishonest intention to unlawfully extract economic benefits for oneself or another person.

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<11> Convention on Computer Crimes (Budapest, 11/23/2001) // Council of Europe.

 

This Convention has not been ratified by either Russia or China, which looks like a negative circumstance contributing to the commission and concealment of fraud and other crimes committed using high technologies. In 2017 Russia has submitted to the UN headquarters a draft convention on countering cybercrime, but at the moment it has not found support <12>. Meanwhile, among the countries that have signed the Convention, not only all the states of the European Union, but also the USA, Japan, Australia, i.e. the mechanism of protective relations created by her has already been tested in practice and can be considered successful.

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<12> Russia has submitted a draft UN convention on combating cybercrime // RIA Novosti.

 

Having analyzed the functional determinants of fraud and other crimes committed using high technologies, it can be concluded that their impact is largely similar to that which they have on other areas of criminal behavior. The existing differences are due to the specifics of the use of high technologies and its cross-border nature.

Investigating the technical determinants of crimes of the named group, it is undoubtedly necessary to pay attention to the prevalence of Internet communications, which creates conditions for various criminal activity. Thanks to the Internet, financial transactions, interaction with credit institutions, and the conclusion of reimbursable transactions have been significantly simplified. The growth of the Internet audience in recent years has shown significant progress. However, this cannot be assessed unambiguously positively, since this increases the number of potential victims of fraud and other crimes committed using high technologies.

Thus, from 2003 to 2013, the number of Russian Internet users increased 5.4 times, amounting to almost 48% of the total population. During the same time, the number of users from China increased 25 times and reached 40.1% of the total population <13>. The number of crimes committed using computer technology and electronic communications has increased more than 300 times in Russia and tenfold in China <14>. As of January 2018, the number of Internet users over the age of 16 exceeded 87 million people (in Russia) and 772 million people (in China) <15>. In the fall of 2017 110 million people used the Internet in Russia, and the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) reported that the number of Internet users in China exceeded 800 million and reached 802 million. At the same time, 788 million Chinese use mobile phones to access the Network, which is 98.3% of the total number of users. Global e-commerce spending in 2017 reached almost $1.5 trillion, and only on consumer goods. If you add spending on other categories such as online ticket purchases, tours, digital content and mobile apps, the total global value of e-commerce will be closer to $2 trillion.

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<13> Miroshnikov B.N. The network factor. Internet and Society. Moscow: Inforos, 2012. pp. 78-79.

<14> Chirkov B.K., Sarkisyan A.J. Crime in the field of high technologies: trends and prospects // Security issues. 2013. N 2. Pp. 160-181.

<15> Global Digital 2018 // We Are Social.

 

It should be noted that the legal regulation of the Internet in Russia and China is different. If in Russia only in 2016 laws were adopted, according to which control over the transfer of electronic data is being strengthened <16>, then in China this problem has been solved for a long time. In general, the Internet regulation policy became part of the program of economic reforms that began in China in the late 1980s. The reforms were supposed to create surplus value sufficient to finance the modernization of the Chinese economy, which at that time was on the verge of disaster as a result of the failure of the "big leap" policy. In 1998, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security began preparing a project called the Golden Shield Project. Over the next 10 years, the project was carefully worked out, and in 2011 it was approved by the State Council. The Golden Shield Project is the largest Internet content censorship system on backbone data networks. The famous Chinese firewall China's Great Firewall (CGF) is part of the Golden Shield Project, and its purpose is to block foreign sites and slow down cross-border traffic. China has created a comprehensive security system that includes end-to-end user identification (passport authentication), antivirus systems, intrusion monitoring, content filtering, video monitoring, and even facial recognition systems <17>. All these systems are integrated into a single state dispatch center based on the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China, which allows you to physically find people who violate the law.

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<16> On Amendments to the Federal Law "On Countering Terrorism" and Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation regarding the establishment of additional measures to counter terrorism and Ensure public safety: Federal Law No. 374-FZ of July 6, 2016 (adopted by the State Duma on 06/24/2016) // Rossiyskaya Gazeta. 2016. July 8th.

<17> Glazunov O.N., Avdeenko V.V. Specifics of legal regulation of the Internet in the People's Republic of China // Society: politics, economics, law. 2017. N 2. pp. 24-27.

 

This practice is not currently applied in Russia, although similar initiatives have already been submitted to the State Duma <18>. In Russia, the penetration of digital technologies has already reached a high level and continues to grow due to the increased availability of mobile technologies, the increasing intensity of use of mobile Internet and services, as well as the increasing transition of everyday activities to an online environment.

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<18> On amendments to some legislative acts of the Russian Federation (in terms of ensuring the safe and sustainable operation of the Internet on the territory of the Russian Federation): Draft law No. 608767-7 // System of ensuring legislative activity.

 

The practice of total control over the functioning of the Internet in China as a whole demonstrates insufficient effectiveness in preventing and suppressing fraud using electronic means of payment. Thus, modern China is the leader in the number of botnets (networks of computers controlled by hackers, from which massive attacks on payment systems can be carried out <19>). Although the process of criminalization of acts related to the illegal use of high technologies began in China back in 1994. and today, the Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China establishes responsibility for using a computer to commit financial fraud (Article 287), such as: 1) creation of websites or connected groups intended for fraud, training in crime methods, manufacture or sale of prohibited or controlled items; 2) dissemination of information about the manufacture, sale of drugs, weapons, pornographic items or other prohibited or controlled items or other criminal information; 3) publication of information for the commission of fraud or other criminal activity (Article 287-1, which punishes, among other things, the organization of electronic payments in violation of current legislation), unauthorized access to computer information systems of national importance, defense construction, the latest scientific and technical developments and spheres (Article 285), - it does not completely solve the problem allowed. From this it can be concluded that the establishment of strict state control has not brought positive results in terms of suppressing illegal actions of a mercenary orientation.

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<19> Dremlyuga R.I. Korobeev A.I., Fedorov A.V. Cyberterrorism in China: criminal law and criminological aspects // All-Russian Journal of Criminology. 2017. Vol. 11. N 3. pp. 607 - 614.

 

Thus, the state of the technical support of computer and electronic payment systems determines the existence of various ways of committing illegal encroachments. The determinants of fraud and other crimes committed using electronic means of payment are evolving, acquiring a global scale and defining the features of illegal behavior, regardless of national instruments to counter it.