I came across a very interesting study looking at the correlation between victimization and reporting. On my past blogs I have focused on newspaper articles regarding white collar crime but I thought this was a very interesting study. The title of the article is, Studying the correlates of fraud victimization and reporting, written by Andrea Schoeper and Nicole Leeper Piquero. I am sure that white collar crime often goes unreported because it is not always huge multi-million dollar cases like that of Bernie Madoff. A lot of the cases will important the lives of the middle class and put them in a deep hole that will be very tough to get out of. This study tries to find out what some predictors are of white collar crime victimization. Because little is known about this subject, I mean is it even possible to have a list of traits for someone that might become a possible victim? I will go over quickly some of the results of the study in regards to people who are most likely to become victims and who most likely to report these crimes. The study came to the findings that people who engage in risky behaviors are more likely to become victims of fraud.The only other significant variable that could lead to victimization was age and the younger the person is the more likely they were to be victimized. This makes sense to me because the younger the person the less experienced they are in money matters and things that may be too good to be true may really entice them and lead to problems. Of course people who are on the risk taking side may get caught up in fraud by giving money to someone in the understanding they will double or triple it in a short period of time, usually risk takers are gamblers and putting money in the stock market is a type of gambling. The study goes into more detail about individual types of fraud.

The results of who is more likely to report these crimes were very interesting. Persons who had some type of college education were the most likely to report crimes of fraud or theft. In a less significant finding individuals who partook in risk taking behavior and were male were slightly more likely to report these crimes. Overall from the study people reported fraud 43% of the time. This seems like a pretty high number, but if you lost a good sum of money I am sure you would report it even though the chances of seeing that money again are slim. This article was very interesting and I will put the link below for whoever would like to look at it.

Link for article:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V75-4VV1B52-1&_user=521814&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=full&_orig=search&_cdi=5833&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000059575&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=521814&md5=85e0e638da3d582ad4e490daf1e4a80d#secx13

Source: Journal of Criminal Justice

I was looking through the online Contra Costa Times this morning and came across another scam of someone embezzling money. It seems this is happening everyday recently. It was no small chunk of change either, the woman totaled 675,00 from the state bar. The woman, Elyce Pearl from Oakland faces one count of embezzlement and six counts of filing false tax returns according to charges filed Monday by the Alameda County Superior Court. It is kind of funny that this money was stolen from the state bar, which administers attorneys the right to practice in each individual state and also does disciplinary hearings should an attorney have a problem. People usually think of the attorneys as the schemers or liars but this middle aged woman sure got a way with a scam for quite sometime.

The following is straight from the article and mentions how this women was able to get this money in her account, "The In 1999 it bought an office building at 180 Howard Street in San Francisco to use as its headquarters, inheriting some tenants that leased space in the building from whom Pearl was responsible for collecting rent. Brown's office said as early as 2002, Pearl was telling some tenants to make rent checks payable to "PLOT-The State Bar of California;" "PLOT" actually stood for "Piedmont Light Opera Theatre," into whose bank account Pearl deposited some checks and then — as a signatory on the theater's account — transferred money to her own." This plan worked for a while, with her spending the money she gained on fancy meals, designer clothes and lavish hotels. I don't see what these people are thinking, not too many people actually get away with these types of fraud clean and clear, either they need to stop when they are ahead, oh but that will not happen because the reason they keep doing it is because they are greedy. The end result is sure not worth it because if she is found guilty she could face up to nine years in state prison. That is a lot of time behind bars for trying to make easy money and not living a normal law abiding life like most of the rest of us.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_12101473?source=most_viewed

Source: Contra Costa Times