Forensic Characteristics of Criminal Offenses Related to Illegal Circulation of Virtual Assets

Abstract

This article purpose is to reveal peculiarities of forensic characteristics of crimes related to illegal circulation of virtual assets, as well as to determine the main elements of their commission mechanism. For achieving this goal, complex of general scientific and special legal methods of cognition was applied, in particular dialectical, system-structural, formal-legal, comparative-legal, logical-semantic one, analysis and synthesis, modeling and generalization. The article is devoted to research on forensic characteristics of criminal offenses related to illegal circulation of virtual assets, which in conditions of global digitalization and rapid information development of technologies are becoming increasingly dangerous to society. Topic relevance is due to active use of cryptocurrencies, decentralized financial services, anonymous payment instruments and artificial intelligence technologies in mechanisms of committing fraud, cybercrime and legalization of proceeds from crime. Growth of transnational cybercrime, spread of phishing schemes, use of mixers, toggle switches, offshore jurisdictions and platforms with end-to-end encryption create significant difficulties for law enforcement agencies in detecting, documenting and investigating such offenses. Particular attention is paid to the problems of forming an evidentiary base associated with virtual nature of digital traces and difficulty of identifying persons involved in illegal transactions with virtual assets. The research results determined that virtual assets as a subject of criminal encroachment form specific mechanism of criminal activity that is characterized by a high level of latency, cross-border nature, use of modern information technologies and complexity of localizing the place of commission of a criminal offense. It was substantiated that digital traces contained in blockchain, electronic wallets, user accounts, PC memory, messengers, social networks, databases of communication operators and Internet providers are of crucial importance for the investigation. The most common methods of committing crimes related to the illegal circulation of virtual assets are analyzed, including phishing attacks, hacking of cryptocurrency exchanges and electronic wallets, use of fake platforms, manipulation of tokens, fraudulent investment projects, DeFi-exploits, NFT fraud and legalization of income using cryptocurrency services and online casinos. It is proven that significant part of such offenses is committed by transnational organized criminal groups with a clear division of roles between participants. It is argued that offender in this category of crimes is characterized by a high level of digital competence, specific expertise in the field of information technology, programming or finance and an orientation towards obtaining material benefits. It is proposed to classify the subjects of such criminal offenses as technically trained specialists, professional cybercriminals and persons with legal professional status who apply their knowledge to implement criminal schemes. It is concluded that criminal offenses related to illegal circulation of virtual assets are a complex multi-level phenomenon that combines cybercrime peculiarities, economic crime and transnational organized activity. The need for further development of forensic investigation methods, improvement of legislative regulation of circulation of virtual assets and increasing level of technical training of law enforcement agencies in the field of work with digital evidence and blockchain technologies is emphasized.