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Fraud in America

Summarizes and briefly discusses a Department of Justice bulletin article that reports on the prevalence, extent, and nature of fraud in America. Discusses how common fraud is and the financial damage of fraud to individuals.

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U S Department of Justice Survey Results About the Extent and Prevalence of Fraud in America Well-functioning communities in which individuals feel safe andcared-for and are best able to give back to other community members arebuilt on trust People agree to trust each other enough to give and receivesupport whether that support is financial emotional spiritual orotherwise Thus a society without trust is less of a functional community The lack of trust intrinsic to societies where lying cheating or twisting the truth

Approximately one-third of the participantssurveyed said they had been solicited with fraudulent proposals during theprevious twelve months. As one bad turnleads to another, such a society may evince related problems ranging fromhigher crime rates to emotional distress among individuals. population as a whole it averaged $216 per U.S.adult per year or a total of over $4 billion annually. Department of Justice Survey Results About the Extent and Prevalence of Fraud in America Well-functioning communities, in which individuals feel safe andcared-for and are best able to give back to other community members, arebuilt on trust. Those who fell for scams weremore likely to be young rather than old and were more likely than not tohave some college education. Schemes thatthe researchers had previously believed to be the most common, includingthe impersonation of bank officers and inspectors, fraudulent credit repairscams, and fake tickets, were actually found to be uncommon. "Fraud Victimization--the Extent, the Targets, the Effects." National Institute of Justice Update. What is the extent of the financialdamage of fraud to individuals? The researchers further speculated that people with collegeeducations were more likely to be involved in a wider range of activitiesthat might open them up to fraudulent solicitation, such as being includedin more telephone or mailing lists. Frauds were most likely to succeed whenthe they were committed by someone personally known to the victim, when thevictim had not heard of this type of scam, and when the person did notresearch the proposal beforehand. A National Institute of Justice Survey, conducted in 1991via telephone interviews with 1,246 individuals (Travis), set out to answerthese questions and found some surprising results. The results of such policies, which couldcreate more trust in our society, could be far-reaching and could be wellworth the efforts and expenditures required to combat fraud. What was perhaps more surprising was the demographic composition ofthose who succumbed to fraudulent schemes. While the reasons for these trends bear futureresearch, the researchers speculated that older individuals are more likelyto have encountered particular scams earlier in life and thus are morewary. How common is fraud in America? In short, it isin a society's best interest to discourage fraud. Works CitedTravis, Jeremy. Feb. 1995.<http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/frau.pdf> What was perhaps not so surprising to many who have themselves beenvictims of fraud is its extent. Who is most affected by it and under whatcircumstances? A useful finding was that people were less likely to fall for scams ifthey had been warned about them. U.S. The researchers concluded that public education aboutthe types and extent of fraudulent schemes could be an effective tool forreducing the success of scams and further proposed that authorities heedthese complaints more diligently. Nearly half of those who had been solicited hadsuccumbed to the scam. When the researchers projectedthe data across the U.S. Thus a society without trust is less of a functional community.The lack of trust, intrinsic to societies where lying, cheating, or"twisting" the truth is common may lead to less stability. People agree to trust each other enough to give and receivesupport, whether that support is financial, emotional, spiritual, orotherwise. The types of fraud most frequently encountered included fraudulentprices, automobile repair and appliance repair fraud, "9 " number scams,fraudulent subscription solicitations, and fake warranties. Also, while most people (85%) did notreport fraudulent acts to officials, those who did found their complaintsto be ineffective. Monetary losses ranged from $25 to $65, and weretypically toward the lower end of the range. Scams whereparticipants were offered false free prizes or asked to contribute to fakecharities and credit card number scams, were also reported, but fewparticipants succumbed to these. Thus, it is ina society's best interests, both from financial and spiritual perspectives,to strongly discourage acts that can be construed or interpreted bysocietal members as lying, cheating, or twisting the truth.

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