White-Collar crimes are those crimes that are done in a sophisticated way, just like giving a harmful medicine wrapped in sugar coating.
Basically, it is a non-violent crime that is committed for an unfair financial benefit. As per the FBI, these crimes occur because of concealment, violation of trust, and deceit.
The reason to commit this crime is to attain money or to avoid losing money. In some cases, along with the money, it may be property and services of an individual as well to gain a personal or professional benefit. Examples of White-Collar crimes include embezzlement, securities fraud, and corporate fraud.
Types Of White Collar Crime
There are a lot of types of White-Collar crimes; some of them are listed below.
Bank Fraud
Bank fraud includes engaging someone in the act of activity where the reason behind it is to defraud the bank of funds.
Bribery
When some information, money, goods, services, property, or anything with a monetary value is demanded unfairly to fulfill your legal requirement, it is straightforward bribery. In this case, both the persons involved will be charged to commit the crime. Giving bribes is equally punishable as taking it as per law.
Blackmail
Blackmail is an illegal demand for anything, be it money, property, or whatever, when the blackmailer threatens the victim to be harmed in case if the victim refuses to obey.
In blackmailing, the accused uses the victim’s weak point for his personal benefit and threats him to reveal that information, resulting in degrading the victim in society or in his career.
Counterfeiting
Counterfeiting occurs when someone imitates or copies an item without being authorized to do that and passes the original article’s copy. It is mostly associated with money. However, it may also be associated with branded watches, designer clothes, or anything else.
Computer Fraud
It is the most common fraud which software background people usually commit. In this type of fraud, hackers steal sensitive information such as credit card information or propriety information.
Fake Currency Schemes
It is a technique to speculate the value of the currency in the upcoming period. It often happens in forex trading. Those who are involved in the trading of money can be the victim of such acts.
Fake Credit Card Schemes
It is the unauthorized use of credit cards to attain goods of monetary value. Suppose somebody mistakenly leaves the credit card somewhere. Another person got the card and handed it over to the owner. In that case, he uses that to make his own payments is a White-Collar crime.
Environmental Schemes
Environmental schemes involve overbilling and fraudulent acts performed by the so-called reputable corporations, which portray to clean up the environment.
Embezzlement
Embezzlement happens when a person gains somebody’s confidence and trust. When he’s entrusted with money or anything with value, he appropriates it for his own benefit. It is the most common White-Collar crime.
Forgery
It falls in forgery when a person clears a worthless or false instrument such as counterfeit security or a check to injure or defraud the recipient.
Extortion
Extortion happens when somebody illegally obtains money or property of some other person by threatening force. Extortion is an act to gain an unfair advantage through coercion. As per the law of almost every country, extortion is a crime and counted as a robbery.
In many cases, when people surround you, somebody may come in front and starts to for unjustified and unfair demands in a polite tone.
Insider Trading Healthcare Fraud
When somebody uses confidential, inside, or any kind of advanced information for trading in shares of public corporations, it is categorized as Insider Trading Healthcare.
Fake Investment Schemes
In fake investment schemes, an unsuspected victim gets a call or an email from someone who commits to providing a significant return on a small investment. In most cases, people find emails that use reputations and contact and portray themselves as part of an organization that feels so real. Victims often fall into the trap.
Insurance Fraud
Insurance fraud is to engage in a pattern or an act of activity that someone obtains from an insurance company through deception. For example, somebody gets company or some property insured, and to gain the benefit.
The policy-holder gets it burned and claims by acting innocent that the person needs the compensation. If somebody is caught guilty of such a crime, he may bear the punishment.
Larceny
When somebody wrongfully captures the property, money, or anything of value intending to appropriate is a type of theft or robbery.
Kickback
It is a kickback when somebody who sells something is forced to pay back a particular portion of the purchase to the buyer.
Racketeering
Racketeering is operating an illegal business for a personal profit. For example, suppose the state has declared something illegal. In that case, a person is still involved in that prohibited act while being undercover.
Tax Evasions
It falls in the tax evasions category when somebody commits fraud in paying or filing taxes. Those who misuse their designation and charge money for cooperating with a corporate in a wrong act for personal benefit are often done.
Security Fraud
When an individual or an organization artificially inflates the brokers’ stock prices to make all the buyers invest in some stock of less value, to increase the value of that stock.
White-Collar crime is a kind of corruption that is done with proper planning behind the whole game. The people accused of White-collar crimes built an excellent reputation first or are already reputed, but they misuse their designation.
In simple words, it is a wrong act that gets done in the right way to leave an impression that it is actually the requirements that the victim has to fulfill.
Blue Collar Crime
On the other hand, Blue-Collar crime is an entirely opposite type of crime. If we talk about White-Collar vs. Blue-Collar, white-collar is often done by organizations and corporates; in some rare cases, individuals may also be caught guilty of it. But Blue-Collar crimes are those crimes that are performed openly to create violence.
Basically, White-collar crimes are committed by the so-called high-class. In contrast, the person performs the Blue-Collar crimes from a lower class. Some of the examples of Blue-Collar Crimes are listed below.
Robbery
When an individual or a group of people tries to rob a household, office, or bank is categorized as a Blue-Collar crime. Robbery is often done openly at any time of day where the robbers use weapons to threaten other people. If somebody tries to resist, they do not hesitate to injure that person. In some cases, if the victim refuses to cooperate with the robbers, he loses his life.
Hit and Run
To create violence or threaten an innocent citizen because of personal grudges or if somebody illegally pays for that to the accused is also an indecent crime that falls in the Blue-Collar category.
Crimes Related to Drugs
Uses of drugs are illegal globally, and the mafia involved in this shameful act performs its duty underground. These crimes of dealing with harmful drugs to individuals’ physical and mental health are significant crimes where both buyer and seller are to be punished.
Shoplifting
It is shoplifting when somebody pretends to be a regular customer and acts like that. As soon as the person gets a chance, he tries to hide goods from the shop and leaves the shop without paying.
These are a few of the types of Blue-Collar crimes. Blue-Collar crimes are not hidden or sugar-coated crimes; that’s why it doesn’t need much effort to prove these acts. On the other side, White-Collar crimes are done. It often takes a long time to open up the dirty games playing by corporations or reputed individuals.
When talking about the punishment of White-Collar Crime in America, it is not tolerated in any of the world’s states. But when we speak individually on the US, it has a controversial background.
According to the new law, most people have recorded the protest that the new law tends to be lenient with the White-Collar criminals. Penalties for this particular not as strict as they are supposed to be according to the new country law.
Conclusion
White-collar crimes are those crimes that are often done by those who you may not expect. The individuals guilty of this act first build a good reputation in society. After that, they tend to take benefit of their name. In some cases, computer hackers and another individual may also be caught committing White-Collar crimes. CWP
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