Fraud and financial crimes may take several shapes in today’s complicated economy. The naivety and fragility of their victims are quickly exploited by criminals. The current range of technologies, from smartphones and tablets to web-based devices, has opened up new hazards to us all.
For banks, institutions, and people, financial crimes are a common challenge. In developing new tactics to identify and prevent financial crimes by regulators and authorities, criminals create increasingly sophisticated means of evading legal scrutiny and of committing crimes. As a result, all businesses and individuals must understand the criminal dangers they face, as well as the actions they must take to protect them and achieve regulatory compliance.
What is Financial Crime?
Financial crime has traditionally been described as any conduct involving fraudulent or dishonest behavior for personal financial benefit objectives; however, the illegal change of property ownership may also be included.
Financial crime may be divided into two mainly separate forms of behavior that are closely connected. Firstly, some actions dishonestly create wealth for individuals involved in the behavior. For example, to secure a pecuniary gain, it is always possible to abuse the input of insiders or the purchase of another person’s goods through deception. Secondly, financial crimes are also committed, which do not entail dishonest advantage, but which safeguard or assist the profit already achieved.
Types of Financial Crimes
Some of the most common financial crimes cover the following offenses:
- Antitrust Fraud: It involves the use of pricing tactics and monopolies to impede competition. These infringements are seen as a kind of white-collar crime, as they harm competition, increase consumers’ costs, and may damage the economy.
- Bankruptcy Fraud: By definition, bankruptcy is when a debtor is legally insolvent – whether on creditors or his account. However, when a debtor falsely declares bankruptcy, tries to conceal his assets, files several claims, he is committing bankruptcy fraud, a federal felony.
- Bribery: A brief definition of bribery is the act of receiving or providing something of value in return for influence or authority in connection with a public office or elected position.
- Embezzlement: This offense involves a person’s (a) legitimate possession of another person’s property; (b) convert or retrieves the property for its use, and (c) does not intend to return it. An office worker, for example, could have every right to handle little cash for a company, but as soon as they utilize the small cash to buy their shoes, they have embezzled. One crucial issue concerning conversion or the seizing of the land is the genuine intention to deny the owner his rights.
- Identity Theft: Identity theft is a felony involving a person who appropriates another’s personal data for fraud purposes. Credit cards are opened and loans applied for or banking accounts are used by identity thieves incorrectly to get their victims’ names, addresses, birth dates, social security numbers, and account numbers.
If you are a victim of fraud or want to protect yourself from such cases, Autrey Law Firm has a team of excellent and experienced attorneys to help you with fraud cases.
