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WHITE COLLAR CRIMES: A SCRUTINY |
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WHITE COLLAR CRIMES: A SCRUTINY |
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WHITE COLLAR CRIMES: A SCRUTINY “White-collar crime is not new to India. The scale is.” ― RV Raman WHAT IS A WHITE-COLLAR CRIME? White-collar crime is a non-violent crime where money is usually the main motivation. White-collar criminals often hold a professional position of authority and/or status that pays far more than the average wage. Sociologist and criminologist Edwin Sutherland first used the phrase "white-collar crime" in the 1930s. He introduced the term "persons of respectability"-those who are acknowledged to have a high social status-to characterize the kinds of crimes frequently perpetrated by these individuals. At the State University of Indiana, Sutherland eventually formed the Bloomington School of Criminology. Before Sutherland introduced the idea of "white-collar crime," it was widely believed that members of society's upper strata were mostly incapable of engaging in such illegal conduct. When Sutherland first wrote a book on the issue, this concept was so ingrained in society that some of the biggest firms in America successfully sought to have the book substantially suppressed. BLUE-COLLAR VS. WHITE-COLLAR CRIMES The many sorts of illegal activities that the criminal has access to engage in are what distinguishes white-collar crime from blue-collar crime. Due to the less sophisticated means of the perpetrators, blue-collar crimes like robberies and break-ins tend to be more direct. White-collar criminals, on the other hand, are more frequently in a position to carry out extensive and sophisticated fraud schemes, such as when they work as loan officers at banks. TYPES OF WHITE-COLLAR CRIME White-collar crime encompasses a wide range of offenses, including the following:
Fraud is a general phrase that includes a variety of methods used to cheat people out of their money. One of the most popular and straightforward is the offer to give someone a large number of money (like $10,000) in exchange for a little sum of money (like $300; the fraudster may disguise the smaller amount as a processing or finder's fee). Of course, the scammer receives the funds supplied to him, but he never distributes the funds he promised to.
Insider trading is the practice of engaging in trading while having access to substantial, secret information that offers the trader a competitive edge in the financial markets. For instance, a worker at an investment bank could be aware that Company A is getting ready to buy Company B. The worker can invest in Company B with the hope that after the purchase is made public, the stock price of the business would soar dramatically.
A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that promises investors extraordinarily high returns and is named after Charles Ponzi, the initial perpetrator of such a scheme. With the freshly deposited funds of new investors, it pays such returns to the initial investors. The swindle crumbles like a house of cards when the con artist is unable to bring in enough new customers to pay off the old ones, leaving many investors with substantial losses.4. Identity theft and other cybercrimes 4. Identity theft and computer system “hacking” two of the most common computer crimes, respectively. In 2019, it is predicted that identity theft damages in the US alone would reach close to $2 billion. The state whose residents suffered the most from the crime was California, with nearly 73,000 documented instances; Florida came in a very distant second with 37,000 cases. 5. Embezzlement A theft offense called embezzlement, often known as larceny, can involve anything from a worker stealing a few dollars from a cash drawer to a sophisticated strategy to move millions from the company's accounts to the embezzler's accounts. 6. Counterfeiting In order to prevent counterfeiting, our currency needs to be made more detailed and vivid. The old money was simply too simple to reproduce with today's computers and high-tech laser printers. However, the effectiveness of the government's initiatives in this regard is debatable. According to rumors, copies of the new $100 note in very high resolution were accessible within 24 hours of its initial release. 7. Money laundering When dealing with huge sums of cash, thieves need a service like money laundering. It entails transferring the money via a number of accounts and finally into legal companies, where it is merged with the legitimate income and lost its initial ability to be traced back to criminal activity. 8. Espionage Spying, often known as espionage, is frequently a white-collar crime. For instance, a representative of a foreign government seeking to gain a piece of technology developed by Apple Inc. may contact an Apple employee and make a $10,000 offer in exchange for access to the required data. CLASSIFYING WHITE-COLLAR CRIME White-collar crime is commonly subdivided into two broad, general categories: 1. Personal offenses Financial crimes perpetrated by an individual or a group of individuals are known as individual crimes. A Ponzi scheme, like the one perpetrated by Bernie Madoff, is an illustration of a specific white-collar crime. Identity theft, hacking, counterfeiting, and any of hundreds of other types of fraud schemes are further specific crimes that fall under this category. 2. Corporate crimes On a business level, some white-collar crimes take place. An example would be a brokerage company allowing its trading desk staff to participate in an insider trading operation. Corporate entities may also engage in money laundering. The Internet is a factor that helps Cybercrime, which includes a wide range of online fraud schemes and other types of "phishing" for people's personal information to conduct the crime of identity theft, has increased in tandem with the growth of the internet and ever-improving technology. In general, any crime that uses computer technology to do it is considered a cybercrime. It's difficult to remember that 30 years ago, the phrase "hacking" didn't even exist in popular culture. Hacking is the act of a computer criminal breaking into a sizable database, such as the credit card records of a retail company, in order to steal both identifying information and money. The words "phishing," "email fraud," and the all-encompassing "cybercrime" were also often seen as alien. Computers have provided us with tools and capacities that were before nonexistent. But "progress" is never free; it always has a cost, and our computerized and cell phone-connected world's price is a brand-new class of crimes that, like computers and cell phones themselves, didn't exist before new technology made them conceivable. FAMOUS CASE LAWS:
CONCLUSION: The term White Collar Crime has not been expressly defined under any code but include various serious offences. With Technological advancement, these crimes have increased beyond imagination. Looking at the present scenario, There is a need for stringent and strict laws that aims at eradicating such crimes from society and tries to restore equity and justice. The traditional laws need to undergo drastic changes to accommodate such crimes and penalize them. The Indian Penal Code, 1860 Along with special laws formulated to combat such crimes must be worked upon. Also, this improvement can come with an increase in transparency, accountability and awareness. White-Collar crimes can be treated by developing constructive harmony among existing laws and by formulating new ones that exclusively deals with them. Setting up social courts would lead to speedy justice and the smooth functioning of society.
By: aabhas soni - August 18, 2022
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