The most influential criminologist of the 20th century and a sociologist, Edwin Hardin Sutherland, for the first time in 1939, defined white collar crimes as “crimes committed by people who enjoy the high social status, great repute, and respectability in their occupation”. The five attributes of the given definition are:
- It is a crime.
- That is committed by an important person of the company.
- Someone who enjoys a high social status in the company.
- And has committed it in the course of his profession or occupation.
- There may be a violation of trust.
Related to the corporate sector, white collar crimes are defined as non-violent crimes, generally committed by businessmen and government professionals. In simple words, crimes committed by people who acquire important positions in a company are called white collar crimes.
Common Types of White Collar Crimes in India:
- Bank Fraud: Fraud is a crime committed with an intention to deceive and gain undue advantage. Bank Fraud is a fraud committed on the banks. It is committed by the fraudulent companies by making fake representations. It is also related to the manipulation of the negotiable instruments like cheque bouncing, securities, bank deposits etc. It is the most common type of white collar crime and also a corporate crime. It harms public as well as the government of the country.
- Bribery:Bribery means giving money or some goods to the person at a high position in return of a favour. In simple words bribery is when one man gives money to the other which is in authority. It is done for the purpose of insisting him to do something or to prevent him from doing something.
- Cybercrime:Cybercrime is the biggest cause leading to these type of crime in India. It is the latest problem prevailing in the cyber world. Cybercrime is the crime which is related to ‘computer networks’. Cybercrime involves the persons who are expert in computer related technology. It is committed against the victim directly or indirectly to cause a harm to his reputation or to harm in physical or mental way using internet, networks and other technological sources.
- Money Laundering:It is a crime in which the criminals disguise the identity of the money. Here, criminals try to hide the original ownership of the money and the place where they obtained that money by illegal means. Laundering is done with the intention of making that money came from legal sources. In simple words money laundering means to show the illegitimate money as legal money. Money laundering involves three steps: Firstly, the owner of the money obtain the money from some illegal means and deposit into the bank by some way. Then through multiple transactions the transfer of money is being done. And lastly, they return the money into banks to make it legitimate.
- Tax Evasion: Tax evasion is committed with an intention to conceal one’s actual taxable income and one’s original position to the authorities. This concealment of income is done to reduce the tax liability in the eyes of government. In simple words it means to hide the money obtained from the illegal means in order to reduce one’s liability to pay tax and to show low income to the tax authorities. Tax evasion has a negative impact on the social values as it demoralized honest tax payers and they might also want to do tax evasion also it gives economy power in the hand of few undeserving people.
- Identity Theft: Identity theft is one of the easiest type of crime these days. Due to advancement of technology it is very easy to access personal information of anyone. Identity theft is the crime in which the criminal access unauthorized information such as name, address, phone number etc. and use this information to gain money. In simple words identity theft is committed by using some other person identity to commit fraud or to gain money by illegal means.
- Food and Drug adulteration: One of the major prevailing nature of white collar crime of which the current Indian society is a victim is the act making adulterated foods and drugs to be sold to the general public thereby causing large amount of damages to health. Based on the recent report that has been submitted by the Ministry of Health of the Government of India it has been demonstrated that approximately 70% of the food and other edible stuff are being adulterated in nature and has the potential of causing health risks and damages to the general public.
- Hoarding and black marketing: For the purpose of achieving huge amounts of profits within the business structure activities like hoarding and black marketing are being carried out of the essential commodities that has in recent years increased in India. In order to control such illegal practices the government has initiated specific legislations and regulations such as Trade Restrictive Practices (Amendment) Act 1992, with stringent punishment measures for violators of its provisions and the other offenders.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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