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As officials in Italy fight to curtail the coronavirus pandemic, organized crime groups are taking advantage of the chaotic situation, experts say.

Italy has recorded the highest number of deaths from COVID-19 and, until recently, had the highest number of cases. The situation has strained public resources and shifted law enforcement’s focus to enforcing lockdown measures to stop the spread.

Though the lockdown has cut into their typical revenue streams – prostitution, drug trafficking and extortion – mafia groups have begun taking control of struggling businesses desperate for some cash.

“The mafia offers a loan to a business owner who needs money. He knows who he is dealing with but thinks he can manage the situation. He is mistaken,” Maurizio De Lucia, Messina’s chief prosecutor, told Politico.

By infiltrating legitimate businesses, mafia groups have indirect access to the business owner’s relationship with the banks and his books, De Lucia said.

And officials say this trend is likely to set the stage for a spike in overall criminal activity well beyond the pandemic – and not just in Italy.

“There is no [EU] country that is exempt from this problem,” Sabrina Pignedoli, an MEP from Italy’s 5Star Movement, told Politico.

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Mafia groups maintain a presence throughout Europe, most prominently in countries that are inattentive to money laundering.

“They will work anywhere where there is a capacity to corrupt officials, who will fall into the trap, either because they are ingénues or willing to be corrupted,” said General Giuseppe Governale, head of Italy’s Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate (DIA).

Authorities are also anticipating crime groups to take advantage of coming recovering efforts by siphoning off investment in the nation’s infrastructure.

Meanwhile, other groups have found new ways entirely to profit in the pandemic economy. According to a report by Europol, organized crime groups have been trading counterfeit masks, gloves and pharmaceuticals and impersonating health care officials offering “corona tests.”

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Officials say a coordinated effort by European nations is needed to push back against organized crime. But with leaders’ attention focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, “organized crime is not among the [European] Commission priorities,” Pignedoli said.