Criminal Law Risks of Using Applications to Order Goods and Commercial Services

Abstract

The article is a continuation of a series of works devoted to the description of the criminal law risks of using mobile applications: the risks of suffering harm as a result of committing crimes and the risks of harm if illegality is not obvious. This paper provides an explanation of the difference in risk identification activities between acts committed using mobile applications and acts generally committed using the Internet. The study found that all analyzed applications for ordering goods or commercial services are combined with the ability to make payments and therefore, in terms of potential risks, they are most consistent with mobile banking applications, but they are inferior in terms of security. In applications for ordering goods or commercial services, the operator often interacts directly with the relevant supplier, determining the essential terms of the transactions they conclude. This specificity determines the most important criminal legal risk of suffering harm — the commission of theft. The risks of harm include the purchase of restricted items through marketplaces. This is due to the fact that through such applications, a wide variety of people communicate about a wide variety of goods, works and services, the composition, content and execution of which may contradict the legislation of the Russian Federation.