European Crime Prevention Award and Best Practice Conference 2025

The European Crime Prevention Award (ECPA) and Best Practice Conference (BPC) will take place on 27 and 28 November 2025 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The theme is the prevention of online fraud targeting citizens.

 Theme and scope of the 2025 ECPA

Online fraud constitutes a rapidly growing and increasingly complex threat within the EU. According to EU-SOCTA 2025, it is the fastest-expanding area of organised crime. This type of crime affects individuals, businesses, and public institutions alike, often resulting in severe financial and psychological consequences for victims. Moreover, the threat undermines trust in institutions and the digital society at large.

Many victims are repeatedly targeted, and particularly vulnerable groups are singled out through social profiling and data analysis. Fraudulent investment schemes, phishing attacks (via email, SMS, and phone), identity theft, and social engineering are just a few examples of how criminal networks exploit the digital sphere for financial gain.

Online fraud is expected to increase both in volume and complexity, and it will remain a highly profitable domain strengthening criminal networks. The damage caused by online fraud is also highlighted in the European ISS Report 2025, which states that an Action Plan on Online Fraud will be developed. This plan will focus on prevention, more effective law enforcement, and improved victim protection and recovery.

This year’s ECPA will highlight innovative and effective crime prevention projects designed to protect citizens from online fraud. Projects may focus on technological or behavioural interventions, public-private partnerships as well as transnational collaboration, law enforcement training or tools, and community-based strategies. The key requirement is that the initiative must contribute to the prevention of online fraud targeting citizens and its consequences. This may also include initiatives that address various elements of the crime script by disrupting the execution of the crime, for example, preventing the recruitment of  resources, such as young people being used as money mules or other facilitators, or targeting online marketplaces where tools like phishing kits and other resources, including citizens’ personal data, can be obtained.

Interested in participating?

Each EU Member State is invited to submit one national project that addresses this theme to compete in the ECPA 2025 contest.

Please send the projects for the ECPA in English to the EUCPN Secretariat, through the National Representative of the EUCPN. The submission deadline is 26 September 2025, after which no more entries will be accepted. Further information about the BPC-ECPA can be found here.

Below you can find the template applicable to the ECPA projects (Annex I), together with the evaluation form (Annex II), the Rules and procedures for awarding and presenting the ECPA (Annex III) and the Guidelines for presenters (Annex IV). The template Annex I has been translated into EU languages. These translations are available to help understand the format. The official submission should be in English.
A jury will evaluate all the projects submitted based on the template. Any extra information linked to the projects cannot be considered during the jury evaluation. Member States are invited to bring along any illustrative materials and creative solutions (DVD’s, flyers, posters, apps, links to websites, etc.) to the BPC, where the space is provided for presenting the materials and share them with others. 

The Best Practice Conference, where all national entries will be presented and the winner announced, will take place on 27th-28th November 2025 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The award ceremony will be held on 28th November 2025.