NCJ Number
87046
Date Published
1981
Length
357 pages
Annotation
A criminologist analyzes the techniques, motivations, and social and criminal networks of commercial credit 'fraudsters,' along with law enforcement efforts directed against them. Research is based largely on British experience but also incorporates American and European investigations.
Abstract
Businesses that fraudulently obtain large quantities of goods on credit with the intent of not paying are engaged in long-firm fraud. Interviews with fraudsters reveal how and why people become involved in long-firm fraud, how linkages develop with other professional and organized criminals, what techniques fraudsters use, and what social and commercial relationships exist within the fraudsters' world. Further analysis, based on interviews with businessmen and criminal justice professionals, focuses on the processing of long-firm fraudsters through the criminal justice system, from their detection by credit controllers through investigation and conviction to sentencing and postconviction surveillance. The author assesses the impact of existing policy measures on the frequency and character of long-firm fraud. More resources should be devoted to controlling business crimes, a policy entailing major changes in social attitudes toward the white-collar criminal. The text includes numerous case studies and descriptions of past and present antifraud legislation. An index, more than 100 references, and the study methodology are appended.