Introduction

Hamerton, Christopher and Gottschalk, Petter (2021) Introduction. In, White-Collar Crime Online: Deviance, Organizational Behaviour and Risk. 1 ed. London. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-14. (doi:10.1007/978-3-030-82132-6_1).

Abstract

White-collar offenders are privileged individuals who abuse their legitimate access to resources to commit and conceal their financial crime (Benson, 2020; Dodge, 2009; Friedrichs et al., 2018; Piquero and Schoepfer, 2010; Pontell et al., 2014; Stadler et al., 2013; Sutherland, 1939, 1983). Traditionally, white-collar offenders have worked offline when committing and concealing corruption, fraud, theft, manipulation, and other forms of financial crime. As documented in this book, working online is not only a matter of opportunity; it is also a matter of motive and willingness. For example, the distance created by working online, and the possibility of anonymity and fake identity might influence the willingness for deviant behavior. White-collar offenders online commit cybercrime through legitimate professions in privileged positions.

This book addresses cybercrime committed through legitimate professions. The book applies the offender-based perspective on white-collar crime. The offender-based perspective emphasizes characteristics of actors such as social and professional status, respectability, and power (Dodge, 2009; Friedrichs et al., 2018; Piquero & Schoepfer, 2010; Pontell et al., 2014, 2021; Stadler et al., 2013; Sutherland, 1939, 1983). The offender-based definition emphasizes some combination of the actors’ high social status, power, and respectability as the key features of white-collar crime (Benson, 2020). As evidenced by Payne and Hadzhidimova’s (2020) review of cybercrime research, the offender-based perspective has been completely absent from the research agenda.

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Contributors

Author: Christopher Hamerton

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