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The discussion in this paper shows that a lack of clear definitions has resulted in contrasting and incomparable methods to estimate the scale and impact of economic crimes and IFFs, leading to significant gaps around the understanding and awareness of the harms of these crimes. [...] In addition, the quick expansion of economic crimes, also due to technological advancements and the COVID-19 pandemic, complicated attempts to understand the ways in which such crimes are committed and to analyse the extent of the criminal market under the ‘economic crimes’ category. [...] Indeed, the UNTOC convention also lists ‘obtain[ing], directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit’ as one of the four key defining criteria of an organized criminal group.24 A key distinction between economic crimes and other types of organized crime is that in the former case, the crime is the misappropriation of money itself, as opposed to the proceeds of another or predicate c. [...] The relationship between illicit financial flows and economic crime While settling on a definition of IFFs and economic crimes remains a major challenge, it is important to understand the relationship between the concepts and how they are linked in the world of illicit finance. [...] As such, the concept of IFFs is useful to discuss the spirit of illicit finance and the harms of illicit activity on societies and economies around the world.47 8 Defining economic crimes and illicit financial flows Proposed definitions The proposed definition of economic crimes is as follows: Organized crimes that result in financial gain in and on their own, for one or more parties at the expens.