International Cybercrime and Racketeering The word ‘racketeering’ commonly brings up the image of Al Capone and John Gotti. The mafia seemingly coined this phrase in their dealings with illegal organized crimes. The emergence of new technologies and the internet, racketeering has become synonymous with the phrase cybercrime. Cybercrime refers to “crimes in which the perpetrator uses their distinct skills with computer technology” to commit unlawful acts via cyberspace (Holt, Bossler and Spellar, 2105, p. 9). Racketeering is defined as the “act of offering of a dishonest service [a "racket"] to solve a problem that wouldn 't otherwise exist without the enterprise offering the service” (Investopedia, 2010). Combine the two and there is potential to have catastrophic consequences for both the victim and perpetrator. The case of David Camez is one in which $50 million dollars’ worth of financial fraud was committed using the internet. Combined with racketeering efforts, his case made headlines due to its influence on how the Justice Department now looks at racketeering acts.
The Nature of The Crime On December 6, 2013 David Camez who resided in Arizona was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for his part in a complex cybercrime plot that included racketeering offenses. The U.S. Department of Justice states that Camez’s was charged with “one count of participating in a racketeer influenced corrupt organization and one count of conspiracy to participate in a
Cybercrime has experienced significant progress during recent years, as its advance is directly proportional with the advance of technology. In spite of the fact that the authorities devise new and better strategies to fight cybercrime, the fact that the number of people online is constantly increasing means that cybercrimes occur even more frequently. Dishonest people who seek opportunities have discovered how the internet stands as a perfect environment for them to commit crimes by taking as little risks as possible. Computer fraud generates a series of benefits for the person committing it, as he or she can either profit financially from the enterprise or can simply alter files in order for his or her image to be positively affected. Identity theft is a major form of cybercrime and it is essential for society to acknowledge the gravity of the matter in order to be able to effectively fight against criminals using it.
In this paper I will examine some of the aspects of white collar crimes such as: fraud, embezzlement, cybercrimes, identity theft and forgery. I will explain what each of these are pertaining to criminal justice and how they relate to one another. And I will conclude by how each of these topics are growing into global problems.
Cybercrime is a quickly developing range of crime. More criminals are abusing the rate, accommodation and obscurity of the Internet to perpetrate a different scope of criminal exercises that know no borders, either physical or virtual, cause genuine damage and posture real dangers to victims around the world.
The Australian Competition and Commission v Vassallo (2009) case depicts the affects of cyber crime on individuals involved. Advances in technology have enabled new ways to commit fraud online. Criminals are using new and complex techniques to commit fraud which often result in financial loss towards individuals. The two respondents in the case, Leanne Rita Vassallo and Aaron David Smith had sold medical eBooks through the internet. The eBooks claimed to provide medical cures and treatments for various health problems such as Lyme disease, asthma, herpes and prostate cancer. However, expert evidence concluded that the cures offered no therapeutic treatments. The two respondents had profited financially from the fraudulent eBooks and had sold the eBooks to more than 60, 000 customers worldwide. The online fraud was operated through several websites which were able to be accessed internationally. Despite rapid advancements in technology, legislation has proved to be effective in regulating cyber crime.
This paper will demonstrate the application of criminal statutes to white-collar crime, corporate fraud and governmental crime. This paper will discuss two sophisticated crimes in further detail. This paper will explain and assess common methods or avenues of committing white-collar crime, corporate fraud, public corruption, or governmental crime. This paper will analyze the application of state and federal statutory requirements and case law. This paper will provide examples of criminal incidents and the outcomes of the court cases.
White-collar crime can be summed up in a nutshell by the following three deviant behaviors, all of which we hope to establish as morally wrong to our youth: lying, cheating and stealing. The term, coined in 1939, has become an umbrella term encompassing a full spectrum of frauds committed by business (potentially corporate), government professionals and a growing number of individuals capable of cyberspace hijacking. The
The creation go of the Internet has helped spawn new forms of criminals and crimes, and has always helped make older criminal schemes easier to execute, identity theft, child pornography, copyright violations, hacking and you could go on and on. In a 2003 survey conducted by the CSI with the participation of the San Francisco Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Computer Intrusion Squad, of the 530 respondents made up of U.S. corporations, government agencies, financial institutions, medical institutions and universities, 56% reported unauthorized use of their computer systems (2003 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey).
The definition of organized crime is faced with only attempts to generally accept one firm definition. For the purpose of this paper, organized crime shall be defined by the FBI as “any group having some manner of a formalized structure and whose primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activity” (2014). No exception was made in defining white collar crime. However, in essence lying, stealing, and cheating make up what is known as white collar crime. Coined by Sutherland in 1939 is now only an umbrella term for many typologies of frauds committed by businesses and government professionals (FBI.gov, 2014). The gaining of incomes that comes from illegal activities would need to appear legal, through money laundering. These criminals
When you begin to examine how the internet and crime are related, you must first examine exactly what the internet is and how it works. The internet is a global system of computers and networks that are interconnected and service billions of users at any given time. This could be considered a cybercriminals’ playground. Because billions of computers are connected via a vast array of private and public networks including many government agencies, it is easy to see how a cybercriminal could obtain valuable information or unleash denial of service attacks that could cripple many of these systems.
’Whilst there remains a discrete set of offences which can readily be defined as white-collar crime, the offender characteristics remain ever-changing, changing as a result of both technological advancements and societal developments changes. Traditionally, very few individuals had the means, access and ability to commit white-collar crime, with the world’s majority not having real access to corporate information. Compare that to today, over 61% of the total workforce now has the potential to access the targets of white-collar crimes from employment in business sectors such as management, professional, sales and office professions. In addition, with today’s current access to corporate information, white-collar offenders no longer required to be employed in a white-collar occupation to commit their crimes. White-collar offences can occur within the comfort of the offenders own home. The United States Department of Justice states white-collar crime is “committed by anyone having special technical and professional knowledge of business and government, irrespective of the person’s occupation.” Widespread access to the internet as well as advancements in information technologies and communication has allowed white-collar crimes to be committed with increasing ease. In addition, these technological advancements have become increasingly common across diverse social strata with the cost of these technologies
Combating the issue of cyberwarfare, the United States confronting organized crime and terrorist organization stealing millions of dollars annually. In 2013 during the State of the Union address, President Barack Obama stated, on the topic of cyber security, that “[w]e cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy.” Stated by Joseph W. Salvador (2015), it is estimated that every year cyber-attacks are costing the world $110 billion (p 2.79). The Federal Bureau of Investigation has placed cyber threat into three categories: organized crime groups, state sponsors, and terrorist groups. Since organized crime groups and terrorist groups are considered an “enterprise criminality”,
Catherine D. Marcum of Georgia Southern University discusses the correlation between punishments for cyber crimes and traditional street crime. She writes, “The United States Department of Justice advises punishment of computer crime offenders by federal court judges in the same manner as is advisement for all other federal crimes: the United States Sentencing Guidelines (USSG)” These guideline mentioned shows the sentences calculated for antecedent and current offenders. Failing to abide by this may breach a person’s constitutional rights. This article provides a baseline to represent which crimes are worth more time and which are not. After calculating stats on which crime should be worth what punishment, the author describes a scale the US government could use to determine which crimes are worth what sentence. This could help the judicial system punish well known cyber crimes better. If predetermined law has not been set for certain crimes now, this system could be a breakthrough in today’s U.S. judicial
In this paper the exciting criminal phenomenon known as white-collar crime will be discussed. Corporate Crime and Computer Crime will be discussed in detail. Crime preventative agencies such as the NCPC (National Crime Prevention Council) will also be researched. White Collar Crime The late Professor Edwin Sutherland coined the term white-collar crime about 1941. Sutherland defined white-collar crime as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" (Siegel 337) White-collar crime includes, by way of example, such acts as promulgating false or misleading advertising, illegal exploitation of employees, mislabeling of goods, violation of weights and measures statutes, conspiring to
In this paper the exciting criminal phenomenon known as white-collar crime will be discussed. Corporate Crime and Computer Crime will be discussed in detail. Crime preventative agencies such as the NCPC (National Crime Prevention Council) will also be researched. White Collar Crime The late Professor Edwin Sutherland coined the term white-collar crime about 1941. Sutherland defined white-collar crime as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" (Siegel 337) White-collar crime includes, by way of example, such acts as promulgating false or misleading advertising, illegal exploitation of employees, mislabeling of goods, violation of weights and measures statutes, conspiring to
Cyber Crime is described as criminal activity committed via use of electronic communications with respect to cyber fraud or identity theft through phishing and spoofing. There are many other forms of cyber-crime also such as harassment, pornography etc. via use of information technology.