While not everyone is aware of this, corruption, money laundering, racketeering and frauds have a joint name: white-collar crime. As the name suggests, these crimes are committed mainly by people who work in white shirts, such as businessmen and state officials.
White-collar crime statistics are widely available, but they should be analyzed with a dose of skepticism. By its nature, this kind of crime happens among high-ranked officials and wealthy business people, making us question the authenticity of the public data and wonder about the actual rates.
In order to help you understand the issue at hand, we gathered recent US white-collar crime statistics for 2021—what categorizes as white-collar crime, how frequent it is, and what are the measures authorities use to discover and prevent it.
Top Ten White-Collar Crime Facts and Numbers:
- White-collar crimes were first defined in 1949.
- An average white-collar criminal is a man in his mid-40s.
- White-collar crime conviction rates dropped by 47.8% in 2020.
- An average white-collar crime causes losses in excess of $500,000, while an average armed robbery is responsible for around $3,000.
- White-collar crimes cost the US more than $300 billion a year.
- White-collar crime in America affects over 35% of businesses.
- The FBI investigates 42% of reported white-collar crimes in the US.
- The biggest white-collar crime caused losses in the value of $65 billion.
- White-collar crime rates for identity theft and computers are 3%.
- White-collar crimes target all social groups, regardless of age or gender.
Basic White Collar Crime Statistics
Before we get into more detailed analyses, let’s look into the basic information about what types of crimes are considered white-collar crimes, how common they are, and how they can be dealt with.
1. White-collar crimes were first defined in 1949.
(Investopedia)
When it comes to who commits white-collar crime, statistics have not changed much since this type of crime was given its name by Edwin Sutherland, a famous sociologist. He described it as a “crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.” Today, this refers to professions from politicians and administrative workers to wealthy entrepreneurs and successful businessmen.
2. White-collar crime statistics show that the worth of counterfeit goods worldwide rose to $509 billion.
(DBT & Partners)
According to a report released by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) for the 2017–2019 period, the tobacco industry and clothing industry were most affected. More specifically, the value of counterfeit goods rose to match the value of 3.3% of global trade.
Apart from clothes and tobacco, jewelry and watches are also at the top of the list of popularity for counterfeit industries.
3. White-collar crimes cost the US more than $300 billion a year.
(Globe Newswire)
White-collar crime in America is still rampant, and it has a huge impact on both society and the national economy. These numbers appeared in a report recently released by the FBI, which has the most detailed insight into the true scale of these cases in the US.
4. FBI investigates 42% of reported white-collar crimes.
(TRAC, Syracuse University)
These are rarely top-secret cases we see in movies, but these white-collar crime statistics from 2020 show us that the FBI does a considerable amount of work in this regard. Other authorities where you might report suspicions of white-collar crimes are the IRS, Postal Service, and SecServ, all of which investigate and prosecute around 10% of reported cases.
5. Data analytics for white-collar crime show that corporate frauds mainly involve accounting.
(Investopedia)
These accounting frauds mostly serve to cover blunders or hide the real picture from auditors and/or investors. A famous example is a fraud committed by Credit Suisse in 2014. They helped American citizens hide their income from the IRS and ended up paying $2.6 billion in penalties after it was all discovered.
Other frequent examples of white-collar crimes are embezzlement and money laundering, as well as securities frauds that still rate pretty high on the list in terms of their frequency.
6. The average white-collar criminal is a man in his mid-40s.
(Bajoka Law Group)
It seems that the actual white-collar crime demographics pretty much conform to what most people would expect—middle-aged white men in higher positions. Most of them were not involved in any type of criminal activity before their 30s. This probably has to do with their career progress and experience.
However, it is surprising to learn that the biggest white-collar crimes don’t happen in international companies. Instead, they are much more significant in businesses that count less than 100 employees. The estimates are that executives are responsible for business losses 16 times bigger than losses caused by the employees.
White-Collar Crime Sentencing Statistics
As we’ve just established, white-collar crimes are committed by high-ranked officials and influential people. With that in mind, one can question the accuracy and fairness of trials held for these crimes.
We gathered and analyzed the most recent available information on the prosecution of white-collar criminals—read on!
7. Crime report data from August 2020 show a 15.3% drop compared to previous months.
(TRAC, Syracuse University)
Last year, both reporting and the white-collar crime conviction rates were lower, especially during the summer months, which may be simply caused by the fact that a lot of companies stopped their operations due to the pandemic. The best example is certainly August, with only 304 reported white-collar prosecutions.
8. White-collar crimes target all social groups, regardless of age or gender.
(Dodge, M.) (DBT & Partners)
Various white-collar crime facts indicate that there are no clear boundaries as to who are the people who are the possible victims of white-collar crimes. What is known is that victims go through significant emotional harm and possibly health-threatening stress, in addition to financial losses.
Research and facts about white-collar crime in the UK indicate that the fraud victims mostly belong to the category of people between 40 and 60 years of age. For rental fraud, this number is significantly lower (33), which can be explained by the fact that younger people are more likely to be renting.
9. Statistics on white-collar crime conviction rates show that prosecutions dropped by almost 50% in 2020.
(TRAC, Syracuse University)
Or, to be more precise, the year-over-year filing and prosecution rates were 47.8% down in August 2020. This continues a trend that started six years ago, in 2015, when prosecution rates were 56.9% higher.
10. In 2019, only 5,000 white-collar crimes were prosecuted in the US.
(Bajoka Law Group)
The white-collar crime prosecution rate seems to be dropping along with the number of reported white-collar crimes. Between the 1980s and 1990s, there were around 10,000 prosecutions a year, and in 2019 the number of white-collar crime prosecutions was the lowest it’s been since 1986.
11. White-collar crime statistics by state indicate that North Carolina is the most active in prosecuting this kind of crime.
(TRAC, Syracuse University)
To be specific, the Eastern District of North Carolina seems to be number one in prosecuting reported white-collar crimes, with 18 prosecuted cases in August 2020.
The Eastern District of Louisiana, the District of Rhode Island, and the Eastern District of Virginia ranked right after North Carolina.
12. The biggest white-collar crime caused losses in the value of $65 billion.
(WK Law)
It culminated in the arrest of Bernie Madoff in 2011, who ran a scam through the so-called Madoff Investment Securities, LLC. It’s one of the most universally agreed-upon facts about white-collar crime that this was the most ‘successful’ white-collar crime ever—it was all a carefully constructed Ponzi scheme, for which Madoff was convicted to a total of 150 years in prison.
If you’re wondering what a Ponzi scheme is, just think of ads that promise you a swift and hefty ROI. It works by luring people to invest and giving them money made from new investors as if it were a result of their investment.
All in all, Madoff was charged and convicted of multiple white-collar crimes: securities and investment advisor fraud, money laundering, perjury, wire and mail frauds, as well as false filings with the SEC.
13. White-collar crime rates for acts involving identity theft and computers are 3%.
(TRAC, Syracuse University)
Truth be told, the greatest number of reports (38.5%) were categorized as “Other.” Financial institution frauds were next on the list with 11.8% and tax frauds with 8.6%.
White-Collar Crime vs Street Crime Statistics
Street crime is what comes to mind most often and is most associated with the notion of crime. Apart from obvious differences such as levels of violence and consequences, let’s see how these two types of crime differ.
14. White-collar crime in America affects over 35% of businesses.
(Globe Newswire)
This kind of crime is so rampant in the US that there are practically no households or businesses in the States that are not potential targets. As a matter of fact, between 20% and 28% of households and 35% of US businesses have had issues with white-collar criminals.
15. An average street criminal is barely over 30, while white-collar criminals are almost never younger than 30.
(Research Gate)
Mean age apparently varies significantly when it comes to street offenders and white-collar offenders.
Among white-collar offenders, the oldest are those who commit tax frauds whose mean age is 49. The youngest are those who meddle with bank embezzlements, with 31. The oldest street criminals based on mean age are those who commit forgeries or are involved with narcotics, being 31. The youngest street criminals are robbers with 28.
16. An average white-collar crime causes losses in excess of $500,000, while an average armed robbery is responsible for around $3,000.
(Bajoka Law Group)
On top of that, various street crime vs white-collar crime statistics suggest that the number of white-collar crimes would double if check-related forgeries and frauds were included.
White-collar crimes are more or less as present as what we traditionally perceive as crime but are not as prominent. The thing is that it usually remains unnoticed until the damage becomes too big. We won’t notice when a colleague writes a check for their personal matters, but the numbers show that offenders rarely stop after their first action.
17. Women are less involved in street crime, but they make up 47.7% of bank embezzlement offenders.
(Research Gate)
While it is true that women are less involved in street crimes, in some areas of white-collar crime, they seem to be shoulder to shoulder with men. The male population is the most prevalent in robberies (93.4%) and the least prevalent in forgeries (75.3%) when it comes to street crime.
When it comes to white-collar crimes, as we already mentioned, women are quite present in the bank embezzlements and the least present in income tax frauds, where men are present with 91.4%.
18. Up to 89.1% of income tax offenders are white, but this drops as low as 15.1% for homicide.
(Research Gate)
White-collar crime statistics by race clearly show that most white-collar offenders are white. They are most present in tax income frauds and the least active in postal embezzlements with 65%.
The situation is quite different for street crime, where white people usually make around 50% of offenders. Homicides and narcotics (78.3%) are the only exceptions.
FAQ
What percentage of crimes are white-collar?
While the real numbers remain unknown due to under-reporting and differences in the nature of crimes, it is estimated that around 3% of reported and prosecuted crimes in the US are white-collar crimes. These crimes often remain unreported because they may be committed by powerful people, or because speaking up can hurt the company or end the employment of the person who reports it.
(Bajoka Law)
What is the most economically expensive white-collar crime?
There are no exact numbers here either. The estimates, as we’ve mentioned, show that it damages the American economy by $300 billion a year. However, the FBI lists corporate fraud as the most dangerous white-collar crime, due to its ability to affect the economy and reshape the market.
(FBI)
What is the most common punishment for white-collar crime?
The most common punishments are fines and home detentions. Other popular measures and penalties include restitution, community confinement, and paying the costs of prosecution. Prison and especially lengthier sentences to prison are reserved for those who caused substantial harm to the victim, in a financial and emotional sense.
(Cornell Law)
Conclusion
We hope these white-collar crime statistics helped you understand this type of crime better. It is not all Wolf of Wall Street—sometimes it is just sneaking in a personal restaurant bill until the numbers add up and it all escalates.
Let us know what you think about this in the comments below!
