NCJ Number
193107
Date Published
2001
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This essay examines the nature of the victimization of consumers who were duped by a large telemarketing scam in California.
Abstract
Due to the similarities, the distinction between white-collar crime and fraud victimizations are often blurred; for this essay, the terms are used interchangeably. The telemarketing scheme that is the focus of this essay was devised to get potential investors involved in bogus investments. The fraud was perpetrated by David Bryant and David Knight during the 1980's until 1991, when their operation was closed down by the investigators of the California Department of Corporations. The two perpetrators set up companies that were selling phony investment schemes, mostly gas and oil leases through telemarketing. They operated large-scale boiler-room operations. The number of victims of these operations was estimated to be between 7,000 and 8,000. The amount of money involved exceeded $160 million and may have been well over $200 million. The analysis of 8,489 cases for which information was available indicated that among the victims-investors, 48.4 percent were males only, 14.1 percent were females only, and 33.4 percent were couples. The scope of the investment fraud was nationwide, but the majority of the victims were from California. A questionnaires was sent to 281 randomly selected victims in January 1994. The responses to this survey revealed additional information about the identity of the victims, the ways they were recruited to participate in these schemes, their attitudes and perceptions toward their victimizers and their victimization, and the ways the authorities handled their case. The perpetrators were not seriously punished for their large-scale fraud, and their victims were not able to recover even a fragment of their losses. This circumstance raised hostile feelings and negative attitudes among the victims toward the regulators and against the entire criminal justice system. These feelings and attitudes were sometimes as strong or even stronger than the animosity toward the perpetrators themselves. These feelings were exacerbated by the realization that many street criminals go to prison for relatively minor crimes, while white-collar offenders often steal large sums of money and then return to "business as usual" after a relatively short time. 37 references