White-collar crimes, defined by criminologist Edward Sutherland in 1939, are non-violent crimes committed by individuals in power that severely impact the economy, especially in developing nations like India, where an economic divide and lack of stringent laws facilitate these offenses. Types of white-collar crimes include fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, insider trading, and tax evasion, which can have devastating economic and psychological effects on victims and lead to widespread distrust in financial systems. The Indian government has implemented various laws, yet challenges remain regarding enforcement and the loopholes that allow offenders to escape punishment.

1. WHITE
COLLOR
CRIME
BBALLB & LLB

2. INTRODUCTION
+ White-collar crimes are committed by individuals who hold an
important position in a company and enjoy high social status
during the course of their occupation or professional time
period.
+ These are non-violent in nature yet pose a great threat to the
economy of a nation. Such crimes are quite prevalent in third
world countries as there is misuse of power at higher
authorities that limit the regulation on such illegal activities.

3. + Economists in the past as well as the present have stated that
white-collar crimes do more harm to the society in comparison to
other crimes as these tend to affect the general population by toying
with their hard-earned money. India is a developing nation aspiring
to stand at the centre stage of the world along with developed
nations like US and China.
+ To achieve this goal, it has allowed interested parties across the
world to invest in its businesses making the consumers more
vulnerable to crimes like these. India looked at an accelerated 80%
growth in white-collar crimes in 2019

4. What are White-Collar Crimes?
+ Criminologist Edward Sutherland coined the term white-collar crimes
in 1939. White-collar crimes are those which, principally, violate the
implied trust.
+ This can, majorly, be done by two methods, the first being
duplication in order to manipulate power and secondly, asset values
being wrongfully represented.
+ Both of these methods incorporate breaking the trust of the victim for
personal gain causing the victim to bear with physical, as well as,
psychological losses.

5. Why is there an increase in White Collar Crimes
in India?
+ India has a very evident economical divide between its social
classes, rich and poor.
+ There is a huge chunk of population that is uneducated and is below
poverty line that causes lack of awareness and being more
susceptible to white-collar crimes.
+ In addition to this, lack of proper implementation of laws and
personal factors like greed and competition among peers are some
factors involved.

6. Causes of growth of white-collar crimes in India-
+ Lack of Strict Laws: Though India already has laws against financial fraudulence, these need to be
made more stringent to penalize offenders. Perpetrators tend to exploit loopholes in the existing
laws and getaway successfully. Furthermore, with the government promoting Digital India, internet
has become the most popular form of monetary transactions presently, giving a boom to
cybercrimes which are a form of white-collar crimes. India still does not have ironclad cyber security
laws
+ Greed: It is believed that there is greed inbuilt in the nature of man. It states true in the cases of
white-collar crimes as these are mostly committed by people already part of high society circles
with so much wealth that already cannot be accounted for. The greed in them makes them commit
crimes and steal money from the pockets of honest tax payers.
+ Lack of Awareness among General Population: People who fall prey to white-collar crimes often fail
to make sense of the nature of the crime that has been committed and are unaware of the
procedures to be followed in order to register a complaint against such offence. Sometimes the
offenders sit at very powerful positions at out of reach institutions forcing victims to choose silence
over standing against them. Then there�s existence of double-dip scams in which a victims
information might be stored and passed on to other scammers.

7. Modern Technology: Advancing technology has helped us ease our day-to-day chores and
also the ease to commit crimes. White-caller crimes has reached a wider audience with
the help of internet and technology. Criminals are able to explore new ways of committing
illegal activities. Bank frauds are done with a single click on some link. This posing a great
threat to people's privacy and financial assets.
Biased Law: As white-collar criminals are mostly those who hold certain authority in
institutions, they tend to escape their punishment through strong contacts with government
officials and politicians that influence the country's legal system. Corruption is also one evil
that cripples the system and judgements are made in favour of the powerful even if they
are the offenders. Bribes are used at all levels of investigation and the offenders go free.
The victims tend not to report offences for that matter as they lose faith in law and order.

8. Types of White-Collar Crimes:
+ White-collar crimes have many forms, they come in different categories, with
different characteristics and impacts.
Some of these are listed below:
+ Fraud: By definition a fraud is an intentional deceptive action taken by the
perpetrator for their own unjust gain. One of the most common type of frauds in
India are bank frauds which include getting loans approved falsely, stealing
cheques and by imitation of financial institutions over calls or internet. Activities like
pyramid or Ponzi schemes, identity theft also fall in the category of frauds.
+ Embezzlement: The act of embezzlement is practiced under the shield of trust.
When a person starts using the money or property that has been entrusted upon
him in a manner that is illegal and not designated to, it becomes a criminal breach
of trust according to section 405 of IPC.
+ Money Laundering: When a person is successful in disguising illegally obtained
financial assets as funds obtained from legal sources, a money laundering crime
has been committed. Section 3 of the Money Laundering Act of 2002 defines it.

9. Insider Trading: Taking advantage of privileged access to inside information of a company that is
unavailable in the public domain by buying or selling stocks or manipulating other financial instruments
to make profit is called Insider trading and it is illegal.
Tax Evasion: Evasion of tax is a punishable offence under the income Tax Act of 1961. It could be
practiced by an individual or a whole institution. It is the act of escaping or avoiding paying taxes by
illegally forging state of affairs so that the amount of tax to be paid can be lessened. Tax evasion is
basically robbing a nation of the money that is used by the government to help pay for the country's
expenses and growth. It is penalised in situations of failure in filing of income tax returns, providing
false information, concealing of owned assets
Counterfeiting Currency: Section 28 of IPC defines counterfeiting as a criminal act. It is the practice of
imitating something that is authentic like coins and currency or even items like clothes, bags, shoes
among others.
Cybercrimes: With India moving towards digitisation in every sector, cybercrimes have become very
common. Any crime that uses computer as a means, coupled with internet comes under the category
of cybercrimes. These include child pornography, cyber stalking and harassment, and cyber terrorism.

10. Effects of White-Collar Crimes:
White-collar crimes can impact its victims in various ways. They can cause heavy losses for
companies forcing them to increase product prices, laying off employees or deducting salaries in
order to recover. This in turn affects the end users and the nation's economy. With rising cases of
white-collar crimes, consumers have started having trust issues on the authenticity and safety of
the products or services they tend to use which has a negative impact on market demand.
White-collar crimes can affect the victims mentally and psychologically, making them feel
helpless, causing suicidal tendencies as many of them incur unbearable losses. These crimes
shake the very roots of the economy on which a country is surviving.

11. Laws relating to White Collar Crimes
The government of India has introduced various regulatory
legislations, the breach of which will amount to white-collar
criminality.
Some of these legislations are-
1. Essential Commodities Act 1955,
2. The Industrial (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951.
3. The Import and Exports (Control) Act, 1947
4. The Foreign Exchange (Regulation) Act, 1974,
5. Companies Act, 1956,
6. Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

12. The Indian Penal Code contains provisions to check
crimes such as – Bank Fraud, Insurance fraud, credit
card fraud etc.
In case of money laundering several steps have been
taken by the government of India to tackle this
problem.
The Reserve Bank of India has issued directions to be
strictly followed by the banks under KYC (Know Your
Customer) guidelines.
The banks and financial institutions are required to
maintain the records of transactions for a period of ten
years.

13. In order to tackle with computer-related crimes, Information Technology
Act, 2000 has been enacted to provide legal recognition to the
authentication of information exchanged in respect of commercial
transactions.
Section 43 and 44 of Information Technology Act prescribes the penalty for
the following offences:
1. Unauthorised copying of an extract from any data.
2. Unauthorised access and downloading files.
3. Introduction of viruses or malicious programmes.
4. Damage to computer system or computer network.
5. Denial of access to an authorised person to a computer system.
6. Providing assistance to any person to facilitate unauthorised access to a
computer.

14. Though the focus of Information TechnologyAct is not on cybercrime
as such, this Act has certain provisions that deal with white collar
crimes. Chapter XI deals with the offence of cyber crime and chapter
IX deals with penalties and adjudication of crime. Apart from this,
many issues are unresolved due to lack of focus. Some of them are:
1. Inapplicability
2.Qualification for appointment as adjudicating officer not prescribed
3. Definition of hacking
4. No steps to curb internet piracy
5. Lack of international cooperation
6. Power of police to enter and search limited to public places
7. Absence of guidelines for investigation of cyber crime