Bankruptcy Fraud And Its Effects On The Lower Income Brackets

The world is full of financial hardship, and American society possesses a great deal of controversy concerning lending. Unfortunately, short term lending, such as payday loans or title loans, creates a structural void within American society. According to Wikipedia, “Structural inequality is defined as a condition where one category of people are attributed an unequal status in relation to other categories of people” (wilipedia.com). When working class Americans apply for a payday, the unequal status between upper and middle class possess a bigger separation financially. The never-ending process of a short term financial fix becomes lifelong debt. Thus, middle class society becomes lower class society. Eventually, working class society will struggle to say above the poverty line. In addition to an imbalance in society classes, short term lending targets consumers who life paycheck to paycheck. In Rigging the Game by Michael Schwalbe, the author explains the reproduction of inequalities. Schwalbe discusses the different kinds of capitals human, social, and cultural (10). The three capitals unknowingly shape Americans social system. Many businesses capitalize on these capitals knowing no laws or regulation exists to stop them from capitalizing on individuals who no faults of their own were born into these unfair capitals. As a result, short term lenders possess the ability to have extremely high interest rates and outrageous fine print penalties because there is little

The guardian also indicates that due to economic recession, white collar crime has been pushed to new levels with high rates of fraud continuing to dominate the second half of 2009 (Allen, 2009). This example by the Guardian is just a tip of the iceberg that pinpoints the fact that white collar crime has continued to escalate not only in the United Kingdom but also across the globe. Unfortunately, this type of crime has not received the attention and the intervention it deserves as other crimes continue to be given a priority in curbing them.

1. Case Study:  “Don’t Let Crooks Steal Your Identity: How to Protect Yourself-and Your Credit Rating” (p. 225)

White-collar crimes are just as prevalent today as ordinary street crimes. Studies show that criminal acts committed by white-collar criminals continue to increase due to unforeseen opportunities presented in the corporate world, but these crimes are often overlooked or minimally publicized in reference to criminal acts on the street. Many street crimes are viewed as unnecessary, horrendous crimes because they are committed by lower class citizens, whereas white collar crimes are illegal acts committed by seemingly respectable people whose occupational roles are considered successful and often admired by many (Piquero, 2014). These views often allow white collar crimes to “slip through the cracks” and carry lesser charges or punishment.

Predatory lending has caused many conflicts in the American society. Victims who fall for predatory lending are

Most everyone goes home after a long day of work and watches the news. Think, what is usually reported? The weather, local activities, headline news, or daily criminal activity. Shootings, stabbings, homicides, etc. are all discussed by media anchors these days. This causes most everyone in our society to become familiar with crimes that are considered street crimes. What most people don’t hear about on the news is what is considered white-collar crime, sometimes known as corporate crime. White-collar crime not only is less reported in the media but also receives weaker punishments than street crime. This paper will first discuss the similarities between the two types of crime and then explain why their punishments are strongly

The well-to-do generally come from upper-class families - meaning that they face none of the disadvantages of an absent-parent upbringing - and have no need to rob convenience stores to feed their children, so they bypass petty crime and move on to what is known as white-collar crime; financially motivated nonviolent crime committed by business and government professionals. “The temptation to commit white collar crimes is far greater for the wealthy” says Sal Bommarito of the Mic Network. Petty crime offers no worthwhile reward to the 1%, as the money earned from a late-night robbery would likely end up being spent on their breakfast the next morning, but the hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be made from corporate embezzlement could be the down payment on the new Ferrari they’d been eyeing. The lack of street crime but over-saturation of white-collar crime committed by the upper-class is ultimately just as, if not more, harmful on a global scale. Canada alone lost $74,387,465.23 in 2014 due to mass marketing fraud, a crime generally committed by white-collar criminals. In contrast, there were 14, 258 reported thefts of $5000 or more perpetrated in Canada in the same year, resulting in an approximate loss of $71, 290,000, undercutting mass marketing fraud by $3,097,465.23. The difference lays in the types of crimes being committed; the poor are more likely to commit street crime whilst the rich are ultimately more likely to commit fraudulent corporate

White collar crime costs Americans tax payers an estimated “$300 billion annually” (White-collar Crime), but more importantly hurts millions of American emotionally and financially who put their trust in stock market and financial institutions. Surprisingly, even with the astronomical cost only a few perpetrators are ever indicted and even fewer receive any sort of punishment for their greed and selfishness. On October 1, 2014 Florida had witness a rare indictment of not one or two but three Florida bankers trying to side step FDIC into giving them a subsidy loan over $3 Million. Donald “Terry” Dubose, Frank A. Baker, and Elwood “Woody” West were all indicted on twelve different counts of banking-related fraud.

In this paper we will be exploring white collar crime and specifically credit card fraud

In 1939, American sociologist Edwin Sutherland introduced the phrase “white-collar crime”. White-collar crime is a nonviolent crime committed by a business or large corporations. They are usually scams or frauds to gain wealth in society. The people who are guilty of this crime lie, cheat and steal from investors of their company or business. Even though these crimes are non-violent, they have major impacts on the society. Their companies become non existent and families get destroyed. All of their life savings and savings for their children get taken away, and they become bankrupt. Not only does it affect their families, the investors who believed in their business lose millions or even billions of dollars.

In this day and age, a corporation, family, or individual always has a potential risk of encountering fraud within their money supply. On average, fraud and abuse costs U.S. organizations more than $400 billion annually (Federal Bureau Investigation, 2010). Many may think that white collared crime is only money laundering or stealing, but that is only two out of the sum that countless culprits get away with. The term “white-collar crime,” originally coined in 1939 is synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals (Federal Bureau Investigation, 2010). These frauds include anything from bankruptcy fraud, money laundering, identity theft, corporate fraud to a wide number of threats all circling

“Bankruptcy doesn’t discriminate: in 2001, almost one in five Americans from ages 18 to 24 declared bankruptcy…”(Walsh).

In today’s society crime occurs everyday across all aspects of life. One particular crime is that of white collar and corporate level crime. It is important that we as a society study this type of crime in depth because many individuals believe that white collar and corporate level crimes are victimless crimes when in reality they have the potential to destroy major corporations and economies all with one single case. The news or media rarely talk about this type of crime because it is often difficult to understand and individuals typically lack interest in these types of cases. One particular case is that of Jordan Belfort. Dubbed the infamous “Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort is a former stockbroker who robbed investors of over $200 million dollars to create his wealth through “pump and dump” schemes, insider trading, money laundering securities fraud, and stock-market manipulation. As an attempt to further understand these complex cases I will break down Belfort’s case as far as the methods and means as to how he got started, his use of “pump and dump” schemes and other means as to how he acquired his wealth. In addition to this I will discuss the sanctions and disciplinary action that Jordan Belfort was given, how the case affected society and what new regulations were

Some industry-specific factors, such as having valuable near-cash assets, can increase the organization's vulnerability. Also they will need to rationalize the actions as justifiable. The individuals committing the fraud must first convince themselves that their behavior is acceptable or will be temporary. For example, Barry Minkow’s believed that the lies and deceit are for the betterment of his company and that with time everything will eventually return to normal.

The less sophisticated thieves have perfected the art of “dumpster-driving” rummaging through trash. Abusing employer’s authorized access to credit reports or some even playing ‘landlord’ has given them unauthorized access to victim’s reports. Some victims have been scammed fro information by an identity thief posing as a legitimate businessperson or government official. In the most recent news from Concord, NC (Aug. 19, 2004), the police have uncovered a more sophisticated case of ID theft. The newspapers stated, “Authorities think a portable credit card reader, or skimmer, was used to read personal information off a credit card’s magnetic strip. Then those details were applied to the strip on the back of a different cared.”