In the past, jobs were classified as white collar or blue collar, depending on the duties. Blue collar workers were those who did manual labor. White collar workers were those who had desk jobs and administrative jobs. This is where the term white collar crime comes from.
White collar crimes are those that have to do more with administrative issues than with other facets of life. Typically, financial crimes and fraud will fall under this category. There are many different types of white collar crimes that can occur.
Some white collar crimes have to do with mortgages and loans. Oftentimes, these have to do with fraudulent actions being taken on a loan. This can be anything from an applicant lying on an application up to an underwriter creating false applications or providing false information about real applicants.
Another white collar crime that occurs more often than you might realize has to do with income taxes. Again, these usually have to do with fraud or with just not even bothering to file the returns.
While white collar crimes are sometimes thought of as victimless crimes, there are many that do involve victims. Whether that victim is an entity like a business, the government or a person, the victim is usually given a voice in the case.
If you are facing white collar crime charges, learn about your options. Decide on which points deserve your focus and build your defense around those points. From there, you can fill out the rest of the strategy to accommodate the goals you set for your case.
Source: Investopedia, “White-Collar Crime,” accessed April 20, 2018
