Cyber crimes against property in foreign and Russian criminal law

¹ Saint Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russian Federation, Department of Criminal Law, Saint Petersburg, Russia
² Saint Petersburg University of the State Fire Service of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters of Russia, Department of Labour Law, Saint Petersburg, Russia

^* Corresponding author: v-tunin@rambler.ru

Abstract

The prerequisite for the study was a significant increase during a pandemic in the number of cyber crimes against property, caused by forced isolation, a reduction in the use of cash and an expansion of the scope of computer technology when concluding civil transactions. Purpose of the study: to identify trends in the criminalization of cyber crimes against property in foreign and Russian criminal law. To achieve the goal, the following methods were used: general scientific – analysis, synthesis, generalization, special scientific – statistical, formal logical, comparative legal, content analysis, the method of expert assessments. The results of the work were the classification of cyber crimes against property, the novelty is the definition of the most common type of these crimes – fraud, the identification of the growth of its individual forms during a pandemic. The issues related to the observed expansion of the scope of application of the liability for fraud, both in international law and in the national legislation of individual states, which are no longer limited to such traditional methods of committing it as deception and breach of trust. Cyber crimes in the Russian criminal legislation are investigated in their relation to crimes against property, recommendations are given for further optimization of the criminal legislation of the Russian Federation. In Russia, as in the rest of the world, during the period of the pandemic, an increase was recorded in crimes against property committed remotely, in relation to non-cash funds, using bank cards. When committing such acts, computer information, electronic data and programs are used as a method or means of committing them, which allows them to be classified as cyber crimes. Previously, cyber crimes were considered separately from traditional socially dangerous encroachments, but the massive use of information technology in the commission of certain types of crimes (in particular, crimes against property) requires a new approach to their description in national legislation.