Beyond “The Cybercriminal”: Understanding Diversity in Cyber Offenders
Who commits cybercrime, and are all cybercrime offenders the same? In this episode, We speak with Dr. Luuk Bekkers about what criminological and psychological research reveals about cybercrime perpetrators. They discuss differences between financially motivated and technically skilled offenders, the overlap between online and offline crime, and why understanding offender types matters for prevention, policing, and policy.
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Show Notes
Notes:
- Dr Bekkers describes his academic pathway from psychology to criminology and explains why his research focus has consistently been on offenders and their behaviour rather than on offences or technologies.
- Cybercrime offenders are often portrayed as a homogeneous group of highly skilled hackers, but research shows they are a heterogeneous population with distinct motivations, skills, and pathways into crime.
- A key distinction can be made between financially motivated cybercrime, such as online fraud, and more technically complex cyber-dependent crimes such as hacking, DDoS attacks, and website defacement.
- Financially motivated cybercrime offenders often resemble traditional offline offenders and may commit both online and offline crimes, with similar risk factors, peer influences, and personality profiles.
- Technically skilled cyber offenders tend to show different characteristics, including higher levels of self-control and intrinsic motivations such as curiosity, challenge, and skill development.
- Research suggests that traditional criminological theories still help explain some forms of cybercrime, particularly financially motivated offences, while other forms require additional or adapted theoretical approaches.
- Gaming environments may act as pathways into certain forms of cybercrime by facilitating skill development, exposure to deviant peers, and access to illicit online forums, though gaming may also be protective in some contexts.
- Parental supervision and open communication may play a role in shaping online behaviour, similar to the role of guardianship and social control in offline offending.
- Law enforcement responses differ depending on the type of cybercrime, with financially motivated offences often handled by local police and more technical crimes investigated by specialized units.
- Dr Bekkers highlights the need for longitudinal research and greater engagement with offenders to better understand pathways into cybercrime and to inform prevention and intervention strategies.
About our guest:
Dr Luuk Bekkers
https://www.thuas.com/research/research-groups/team-cybercrime-cybersecurity
https://www.linkedin.com/in/luuk-bekkers-79621b162/
Papers or resources mentioned in this episode:
Bekkers, L. M. J., Moneva, A., & Leukfeldt, E. R. (2025). Distinct group, distinct traits? A comparison of risk factors across cybercrime offenders, traditional offenders and non-offenders. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2025.2546311
Bekkers, L. M., Holt, T. J., & Leukfeldt, E. R. (2025). The psychological correlates of cybercrime offending: Exploring the self-control/social learning relationship in serious cyber-dependent crime. European Journal of Criminology, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14773708251378356
Bekkers, L. M. J., Holt, T. J., & Leukfeldt, E. R. (2025). Exploring the factors that differentiate individual and group offenders in cyber-dependent crime. Journal of Criminal Justice, 101, 102522. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2025.102522