Individuals convicted of committing a white collar crime can face punishments such as fines, restitution, forfeiture, or imprisonment. Additionally, individuals accused or convicted of a white collar crime may be subject to additional consequences such as loss of employment and loss of pension. Situations such as these can threaten the financial stability and future of both the accused and their family.
In many cases, individuals under investigation for these crimes are aware that they are under investigation. Suspected individuals may be the focus of internal investigations or private investigations. White collar crimes do not represent an immediate threat to society; therefore, white collar crimes are often investigated by federal authorities for a year or more before charges are filed against an individual suspected of committing these types of crimes. Individuals who believe they are under investigation for a white collar crime should contact an attorney for assistance.
Although there are many aspects of white collar crime, one major part of this is fraud. Fraud is purposely misleading another person for your own benefit. Someone can either act or speak in a misleading way, or can choose to withhold information that will lead people to believe them, resulting in legal harm to the beguiled person.
Fraud comes in a variety of forms. First, financial fraud involves convincing a person to give you money which you do plan to return. One example is a charity fraud. With this case, someone may pretend that they are from a certain charity that needs a donation to help pursue a cause for good. After the person gets some money from an unsuspecting soul, the person uses it for himself or herself rather than for a charity act. Other financial frauds include Nigerian 419 and investment fraud as well as Ponzi schemes.
Another form of this crime is identity theft, which may also result in financial woes. If someone chooses to break into a person’s personal information and assume their identity, they can commit crimes such as credit card fraud should they apply for and use a credit card in another person’s name. If the thief gets enough information, they can also open up bank accounts in the innocent person’s name.
Lastly, some people also choose to participate in medical fraud. This can involve pretending that you have ill health conditions in order to get medicines that you do not need, which you can later sell or take in order to become high. Additionally, some pharmacists take part in pharmaceutical fraud, where they steal pills from the pharmacy to sell or take themselves.