Technology and Crime: AI-Powered Fraud, Genetic Genealogy and the Challenges Facing Law Enforcement (Criminology Discussion)

Discussion: Technology, crime and law enforcement

Throughout this text, the effects and influence of technology on the field of criminal justice are discussed. Choose and discuss one way that newly developed technology is being used by criminals to commit crimes today. Then discuss how advances in technology are improving crime detection and resolution capabilities. What challenges do advances in technology present to law enforcement? Do you believe that police agencies will be able to continue to investigate and solve crimes using technology? (Textbook: Schmalleger, Criminology Today: An Integrative Introduction, 10th ed.)

Original example for study purposes (about 700 words). Add page citations from Schmalleger’s chapter on technology and crime.

New Technology, New Crimes: AI-Powered Fraud

One of the most significant ways criminals are using new technology today is artificial intelligence (AI) to commit fraud. Generative AI can clone a person’s voice from a short audio clip, create realistic “deepfake” videos and write convincing phishing messages without the spelling mistakes that once gave scams away. Criminals use these tools in “grandparent” scams, where an older person receives a call that sounds exactly like a grandchild in trouble, and in business email compromise, where an employee receives a message or even a video call that appears to come from an executive authorizing a wire transfer. AI also helps criminals run romance and cryptocurrency investment scams at scale, using fake profiles and chatbots to build trust with many victims at once.

The scale of this problem is growing. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported more than one million complaints and nearly $20.9 billion in losses in 2025, a 26% increase from the previous year, and its report linked more than 22,000 complaints and nearly $893 million in losses specifically to AI (Help Net Security, 2026). Investment scams, many involving cryptocurrency, caused the largest losses. These crimes fit the textbook’s discussion of how technology lowers the cost of committing crime, allows offenders to target victims across borders and makes offenders harder to identify [Schmalleger, year, p. __].

How Technology Improves Detection and Resolution

Technology has also given law enforcement powerful new tools:

• Investigative genetic genealogy. By comparing crime scene DNA with profiles in public genealogy databases, investigators can identify suspects through their relatives. This method led to the 2018 arrest of Joseph DeAngelo, the “Golden State Killer,” decades after his crimes, and it has since helped solve many cold cases.
• Digital forensics. Examiners recover evidence from phones, computers, cloud accounts, vehicles and smart devices, including location data, messages and deleted files. Cryptocurrency tracing tools can follow stolen funds on public blockchains and help seize assets.
• Video and data analytics. Real-time crime centers combine public and private camera feeds, automated license plate readers and gunshot detection to help officers respond quickly and identify vehicles involved in crimes.
• AI tools for investigators. Software can sort through massive amounts of digital evidence, transcribe recordings and identify patterns across cases, saving investigators time.

Challenges for Law Enforcement

Advances in technology also create serious challenges. First, encryption and anonymity tools, such as end-to-end encrypted apps and cryptocurrency mixers, make it difficult to access evidence even with a warrant. Second, jurisdiction is a major barrier: many fraud operations are run from overseas, where U.S. agencies need international cooperation to make arrests. Third, privacy and constitutional limits shape how technology can be used. In Carpenter v. United States (2018), the Supreme Court held that police generally need a warrant to obtain historical cell-site location records, showing that courts are adapting the Fourth Amendment to digital evidence. Fourth, cost and training are significant; many small departments lack digital forensic examiners, and evidence backlogs grow as every case involves a phone. Finally, accuracy and bias concerns arise when tools such as facial recognition misidentify people, which has led to wrongful arrests and calls for clear policies and oversight.

Will Police Be Able to Keep Up?

I believe police agencies will be able to continue investigating and solving crimes with technology, but only if they adapt in several ways. Criminals will always adopt new tools quickly, so law enforcement will not “win” a technology race outright. However, agencies can stay effective by investing in digital forensics training, forming regional and federal task forces that share expertise, partnering with technology companies and financial institutions to detect fraud early and working with international partners. Public education is also critical; many AI scams can be stopped by simple steps such as families agreeing on a code word and banks delaying unusual transfers. Most importantly, police must use technology within legal and ethical limits to maintain public trust. When new tools are paired with accountability, such as warrants, audits and transparency about how technologies are used, technology can make policing both more effective and more legitimate.

References

Carpenter v. United States, 585 U.S. 296 (2018).

Help Net Security. (2026, April 7). Cybercrime losses break the $20 billion mark. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/04/07/online-crime-financial-losses-fbi-report/

Schmalleger, F. ([year]). Criminology today: An integrative introduction (10th ed.). Pearson.

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