- Europol discovered a new trend of “violence as a service” that outsources violent crimes to young recruits
- Originating from Sweden, the model spread throughout Europe; OTF GRIMM Task Force Formed to Disrupt Social Media Recruiting
- In six months, GRIMM arrested 193 suspects (perpetrators, recruiters, facilitators, instigators) and confiscated firearms, preventing new attacks.
In the latter half of 2025, Europol arrested and detained hundreds of people involved in violence as a service (VaaS).
This strange and dangerous trend, which many would probably compare to old-school “hired thugs,” apparently emerged in April of this year and revolves around criminals outsourcing violence to “young, inexperienced perpetrators.”
“These individuals are prepared or coerced to commit a variety of violent crimes, from acts of intimidation and torture to murder,” Europol said in a press release.
Hundreds arrested
“Closer cooperation with technology companies is equally important to detect and block recruitment activities on social media platforms, preventing young people from being exploited by these criminal networks,” Europol argues.
Europol says the problem originated in Sweden but has now spread across Europe. Some criminal networks even operate in several EU countries. In response, the law enforcement agency created the GRIMM Operational Task Force (OTF), which is primarily focused on disrupting the recruitment process that takes place primarily on social media.
The police agency said most of the recruiting is done on social media, but did not detail where or how. He said that in the future, GRIMM will focus more efforts on disrupting criminal facilitators and service providers.
OTF GRIMM consists of specialized investigators from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, together with experts from Europol and online service providers.
In the first six months of operations, GRIMM arrested 63 perpetrators, apprehended 40 facilitators, detained 84 recruiters, and arrested 6 instigators (including five high-value targets).
Among these suspects were two people arrested in the Netherlands for an attempted murder in Germany, three people suspected of the murder of three people in the Netherlands, and six people (including a minor) suspected of planning a murder. “The operation also led to the seizure of firearms and ammunition, preventing a possible tragedy,” Europol said in the press release.
The best antivirus for all budgets
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
