White Collar Crimes in India

Introduction

White-collar crime is a crime committed by people belonging to the upper classes of society and reputable social groups. Crime was committed during occupation. Criminals generally have a better understanding of technology, their fields and sectors. White-collar crime has evolved significantly over the years. It is also considered an appointment made in a large organization involving many activities. So we can say that these crimes are common in trade, commerce, education, health and other fields.

Since the nature of crime has changed significantly over the years, traditional crime has been partially replaced by domestic white-collar crime. The main difference between white and blue crimes is that ordinary offenders who are blue crimes are vulnerable groups, and the upper classes participate in white collar crimes and commit crimes in a very systematic way. Maintain respect in society until a crime is found.

History background:

American sociologist Edwin Sutherland initially defined office crimes worldwide. He explained that this crime was committed by people with a higher social status than those who committed ordinary crimes on the job.In 1934, Maurice once again noted the need to change the focus of crime. He said that the antisocial activities of those who were arrested and in important positions engaged in a professional course should be brought together with the crime and punished.

Finally E.H. Sutherland stressed that his “one-day labor one crime” was an act committed by people of a higher socio-economic group during his career and was a violation of the trust law.

The concept of white-collar crime first appeared in criminology in 1941.

Reasons of White Collar Crimes

The main reason for the increase in white-collar crime in India is greed, competition and the lack of adequate laws to prevent such crimes.

Greedy

Machiavelli, father of modern political philosophy, firmly believes that the person born is greedy. He said he could more easily forget his father’s death than losing his legacy. The same is true for white-collar crime. Without greed, why would someone with a high social and economic status commit a crime?

Easy, fast and long lasting effect

With the rapid increase in technical, business and political pressures, criminals have a new way to commit office crimes. In addition, technology makes it easier for people to harm others or lose. Also, the cost of these crimes is much higher than other crimes like murder, robbery or robbery, so it will take the victim time to recover. This reduces competition.

Competition

After reading a paper on Darwin’s species, Herbert Spencer came up with the phrase that evolution means “survival of the fittest.” This means that there will always be competition between species, and those who are best suited to the environment and conditions must survive.

Lack of strict laws

Because most crimes are done through the Internet and digital transfer payment methods, the law is unlikely to pursue these cases because it is difficult and complex to investigate and track. They are generally devoted to the privacy of their home or office, so it is difficult to track, so they cannot give witnesses.

Lack of awareness

The nature of white-collar crime is different from that of conventional crime. Most people do not know this and cannot understand that they are the most serious victims of crime.

Common types of White Collar Crimes in India:

1) Bank Fraud is a crime designed to be scammed and gain excessive profits. Bank fraud is fraud against banks. It was created by a fraudulent company through false statements. It also involves manipulation of negotiable tools such as check returns, securities and bank deposits. Bank fraud is closely related to the public, as there is a trust relationship between the bank and the public. It is the most common type of white-collar crime, but it is also a corporate crime. It harms the public and government.

2) Bribery: Bribery is a very common type of white-collar crime. Bribery refers to giving money or things to people in high positions on behalf of profits. In short, bribery is a person who gives money to another person with power. This is to prevent him from doing something or claiming. This is the most common income for most government officials in China.

3) Cybercrime: Cybercrime is the leading cause of such crimes in India. This is the latest and most common problem in the online world. Cybercrime is a “computer network” related crime. As technology advances soared, so did crimes related to technology. Cybercrime involves computer-related technical experts. Directly or indirectly, it harms the victim, damages his reputation, or damages the body and mind by using the Internet, networks and other technology sources.

Cybercrime threatens the safety and financial situation of the country and people. Cybercrime will cause huge economic losses to the country. It is not only a financial loss, but it can also threaten an individual’s privacy. Disclosing confidential information can create privacy concerns. Similarly, cybercriminals against women are increasing. Communication networks, mobile phone network tracking, criminals are increasing, sending obscene information and sending photos to women.

Hacker
Child porn,
Pirate,
Cyber terrorism,
Network tracking is a common example of cybercrime.

4) Money laundering: Money laundering is a crime in which criminals masquerade the identity of money. In this type of crime, criminals try to cover where they got their money by their original ownership and illegal means. The purpose of money laundering is to get money from legitimate sources. Simply put, money laundering means marking illegal currency in legal currency. For example, if someone gets money from a black market transaction, the illegal transaction of this money is considered “dirty” and cannot be deposited into the bank. It seems suspicious if he deposits money directly into a financial institution. Make statements and records that explain the source of the money. Money laundering involves three steps.

First, the currency owner takes the currency in an illegal way and deposits it in the bank in some way.
Transfer funds through multiple transactions.
Finally they return the money to the bank to make it legal.

5) Tax evasion: The purpose of tax evasion is to hide the individual’s actual taxable income and original identity from the authorities. From the government’s point of view, the purpose of this income concealment is to reduce the tax burden. This means hiding money earned by illegal means to reduce tax liability and show low income to tax authorities. Tax avoidance has a negative impact on social values. This also has a negative impact on honest taxpayers who want to avoid taxes, so it affects even a handful of people who are not eligible for economic power.

6) Identity Theft: Identity theft is one of the simplest types of crime today. As technology advances, anyone can easily access their personal information. Identity theft is a crime in which a criminal accesses illegal information (name, address, phone number, etc.) and uses the information to obtain money. In short, identity theft is done to make fraud or illegally make money using someone else’s identity.

White-collar crime in other professions:

1) In terms of treatment and health:

False medical certificate written by a doctor.
It is false and I am trying to expand treatment to increase cost.
Doctors discriminate children by gender and force patients to make money.
Delay time to increase the amount of the bill.
Sell banned sample drugs to chemists.

2) In the legal profession:

Counterfeit forged documents.
The other person’s witness.
Make money by violating legal professional ethics.

3) In education:

Raise a lot of money from students’ donations for admission to students.
Replaced with donations based on excellent admission fees.
Save huge amounts of money in the name of government subsidies.

Effects of White Collar Crimes

Impact on employees

White-collar crimes harm employees. Whether they are safe or not, they will know their working conditions. They began to wonder if they were safe and could still trust the company.

Customer impact

The most important issue for customers is whether the products they use are safe. More and more people start to suspect the crime rate of white-collar workers.

Social impact

Clerical crime is such a crime for those who should be cited as a model of harmful and moral role to society and act responsibly. So society is polluted.When former director of Andhra Bank and director of pharmaceutical company Sterling Biotech based in Gujarat were arrested on charges of a $50 billion fraud case. They withdrew money from bank accounts of many Benami companies. This is a big scam that makes people afraid.

Lose confidence

As happened in the United States in the 1980s, stock scams or trading events have caused people to lose confidence in the stock market. Teenager Barry Minkow and the owner of the carpet cleaning business founded a $1 million company in the 1980s. However, he can only achieve this through counterfeiting and theft.

He created over 10,000 counterfeit documents and sales receipts without attracting people’s attention. His company was made fraudulent, but the market value reached $200 million and rented $4 million of land. Later, he was sentenced to 25 years.

Legislation against white collar crime in India

There are some provisions for identifying white collar crimes. In order to punish criminals who committed white-collar crimes, the government proposed the following laws:

1960 Company Law

Income Tax Law 1961

Indian Criminal Code of 1860

Product Act of 1955

Anti-corruption Act of 1988

Circular Law 1881

2002 “Money Laundering Prevention Act”

Information Technology Act 2005

Import and Export (Control) Act of 1950

Special Court (Criminal Trial on Securities Transactions) Act 1992

Central Security Council Act 2003

Punishment for white-collar crime

Indian White Collar Crime Sensing

Scam

Penalties for White Collar Crimes

Punishment for fraud

Section- 447 of the Company Act 2013 provides penalties for fraud. If someone is convicted of fraud, they will be sentenced to at least six months in prison and extended to ten years. In addition, he must be fined more than the amount related to fraud, and he may be fined up to three times the amount related to fraud. If fraud is for the public interest, the period of imprisonment is more than three years.

Punishment for false statements

Section- 448 of the “Company Law” in 2013 stipulates that if you knowingly make a false statement, you know that it is a false statement or intentionally omit an important fact, and if you know that the statement has a practical meaning, you will be liable for your own wrongdoing. . False statements may be made through returns, reports, certifications, financial statements, investment statements, statements or other documents required under this Act or regulations made under this Act.

Punishment for providing false evidence

Section -449 of the 2013 Corporate Law provides penalties for providing false evidence. If someone gives false evidence in court, it states:

After an oath or solemn confirmation; or

If the company is dissolved or a problem arises under this Act, a statement, statement or solemn confirmation

He will be imprisoned and sentenced to fines. The imprisonment is more than 3 years, can be extended to 7 years, and the fine can be extended to 1 million rupees.

Punishment without specific or punishment

Section- 450 of the “Company Law” in 2013 stipulates that if a company’s executives or anyone else who violates one of the provisions of this law is punishing or punishing a crime, it will be subject to a fine of up to 1 million rupees under this provision. If the violation continues, you will have to pay a fine, and the fine can be extended to 1,000 rupees per day until the arbitration continues.

Penalty when repeating basic settings

Section- 451 of the 2013 Corporate Law stipulates a second participation with the company if the same crime is committed within three years when the company or its officers commit a crime that has already been punished or imprisoned. In addition to the imprisonment period stipulated in this law, all personnel of the crime will be subject to double fines. However, the rules do not apply if you have committed a crime three years after the first one.

Measures to prevent white-collar crime

National top investigation agencies such as the Central Regulatory Authority, Law Enforcement Bureau, Income Tax Bureau, Taxation Bureau and Customs Office must enforce and strengthen strong regulatory policies. The Central Security Council must oversee the work of senior management and cross-check the work to ensure system transparency.
Along with the development of enforcement methods for such clerical crimes, so is the training of investigators. Older employees may have experience and understand their characteristics and skills, but often they cannot use technology to track suspects. This was due to lack of training. Therefore, every investigator should be trained to solve the problem easily, no matter how complicated the problem is.
To eliminate the existence of these crimes, it is very important to incorporate strict laws into the system. Fewer fines and shorter jail times make it easier for criminals to commit such crimes.
In order to be able to deal with this case as soon as possible, courts and tribunals must be established nationwide. The arbitral tribunal has the power to impose fines or imprisonment on convicted persons. These measures reduce the incidence of white-collar crime.
You must propagate your awareness of white-collar crimes in the right way using electronic and printed media. Ordinary people should be aware of this crime, and it happens everywhere, from small cafes to large multinational corporations. In addition, they should be aware of the remedies available when they become victims of such crimes.
Criminals committing such crimes must be given strict laws and serious long-term imprisonment. To do this, the Indian Criminal Law of 1860 should be amended to include provisions regarding clerical crimes. For example, the IPC may have a separate chapter dealing with clerical crimes.
The government can set up separate agencies to investigate crimes and crimes prevalent throughout the country. This independent agency can be named the National Crime Commission. All of their work is crime-related and independent, so they can work more effectively to reduce crime in the country.

Conclusion

Office work crime has two amazing features. First offenses tend to have control or legitimate rights, but they are nonviolent crimes, and secondly they are committed by bosses.

However, these crimes are often committed by low-wage classes, but the main culprit behind such crimes may be rich people who enjoy a high social status in their professions. White-collar crime usually occurs due to peer pressure or depends on the culture of the company.

As our society becomes more modern, the world is experiencing new technological advances and the crime rate is increasing at a faster rate. In particular, the growth of white-collar crime is enormous. From medical jobs to educational institutions, these crimes are everywhere.

Author: Anubhuti Agrawal,
Jagran Lakecity University,Bhopal

White Collar Crimes in India