Download chapter 14 - McGraw Hill Higher Education

Criminal
Investigation
eighth edition
FOURTEEN
Larceny Offenses
Swanson • Chamelin • Territo
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© 2003, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Explain the four categories of credit card fraud
• Be familiar with check fraud schemes and
organizations
• Understand the process of cellular phone
cloning
• Describe the classifications of shoplifters and the
patterns of professional shoplifting groups
• Explain the most common types of confidence
games
• Identify several forms of mail fraud
• Outline various techniques to launder money
• Describe identity theft
• Discuss the looting of archeological sites
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LARCENY
• The legal definition of larceny contains five
essential elements:
–
–
–
–
–
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taking and
carrying away
personal property
of another
with the intent to deprive permanently
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INVESTIGATIVE PROCEDURE
• For theft to occur, two elements must be
present: opportunity and desire
– Investigative procedure depends on the facts of each
case
– Thus, the theft of an item from a home-possibly by a
guest-would be handled differently from business
thefts by employees
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CREDIT CARD FRAUD
• Types of Credit Card Fraud
– Stolen cards. Credit cards can be stolen in a variety
of ways, such as muggings, purse snatchings, and
office and health club thefts.
– Counterfeit credit cards. Counterfeit cards vary in
quality from those made on embossing machines
stolen for companies that produce cards to those of
obviously poor quality.
– Shave-and-paste schemes. Account number are
shaved off one or more legitimate credit cards and
replaced by new numbers.
– Fraudulent application. Individuals apply to several
credit card companies, hoping that one or more will
issue them credit cards.
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CHECK FRAUD ORGANIZATIONS
• The major groups. The principal ethnic groups
involved in illegal check fraud schemes include
Nigerians, Asians (particular Vietnamese),
Russians, Armenians, and Mexicans.
• The players. Despite the lack of a rigid hierarchy,
members typically fall into one or several roles.
– Leaders. Leaders of an organization generally have
an extensive criminal history and possess aboveaverage intelligence.
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CHECK FRAUD ORGANIZATIONS (cont'd)
– Check procurers. Check procurers obtain authentic
checks, usually by stealing them while employed
within a financial information on legitimate individuals.
– Check passers. Check passers actually negotiate
stolen and counterfeit checks through the banking
system and collect the proceeds to distribute to the
group.
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TYPES OF CHECK FRAUD SCHEMES
• There are a variety of check fraud schemes
perpetrated throughout the country.
• Large-scale counterfeiting. The most notorious
groups engaged in large-scale counterfeiting
operations are the Vietnamese triads operating
out of Orange County, California.
• Identity assumption. Seen in various
metropolitan areas, identity assumption
schemes often involve Nigerian and Vietnamese
criminal organizations.
• Payroll-check fraud. A variation of the identity
assumption scheme involves placing group
members within payroll-check processing
companies.
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CLONING BOX
• Cloning is the
unauthorized and illegal
programming of cellular
phones with access
codes of legitimate
customers
– It allows criminals to obtain
cheap, mobile
communications
– The are not traceable
through traditional law
enforcement methods
(Courtesy Police Magazine)
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PATTERNS OF PROFESSIONAL SHOPLIFTING GROUPS
• The groups usually operate in teams of two to
six people. Some patterns include:
– Use of a booster bag designed to defeat electronic
sensory security devices
– Use the U.S. mail and UPS to ship stolen clothing to
specific locations for resale
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PATTERNS OF PROFESSIONAL SHOPLIFTING GROUPS
(cont'd)
• Sell stolen clothing “on the street” or to countries
in South America
• Use false identification when arrested
• Use local motels as base of operations prior to
re-sale
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SHOPLIFTING
• Shoplifters can be classified into two groups:
– commercial shoplifters, or “boosters,” who steal
merchandise for resale and
– pilferers who take merchandise for private use
• Reducing Shoplifting Losses
– The retailing industry is increasingly taking steps to
reduce shoplifting losses, with techniques running
from the simple to the sophisticated
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RECOVERED STOLEN PROPERTY
• Shoplifting groups use
local motels or a base
of operation to:
– inventory
– store and
– package merchandise
(Courtesy Detective Joseph Morrash, Alexandria, Virginia,
Police Department)
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CONFIDENCE GAMES
• The Pigeon Drop
– This swindle is operated by two people who switch
money envelopes on an unsuspecting victim.
• The Bank Examiner Scheme
– The bank examiner scheme is one of the more
sophisticated con games and requires knowledge of
the target bank. The con artist poses as a bank
examiner to swindle a bank customer.
• Inheritance Scam
– In this scam, the victim's phone rings and, on the
other end, a sweet-sounding person says, “You may
be the recipient of a huge inheritance”
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CONFIDENCE GAMES (cont'd)
• Three-Card Monte
– This scam is similar to the traditional shell game. The
con artist uses “marked cards” to cheat a victim.
• C.O.D. Scam
– The suspects usually pose as delivery employees.
After writing a phony mailing label, the suspect goes
next door and asks the neighbor to accept a
perishable package for the absent neighbor and to
pay cash for COD charges.
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EXAMPLES OF MAIL FRAUD
• Free Vacation Scam
– When a postcard or letter is received in the mail and/or an
unexpected phone call comes from an unknown company
promising a complimentary vacation in an exotic spot, someone
is probably trying to make the recipient the victim of the free
vacation scam.
• 900 Telephone Number Schemes
– There are swindlers who lure people to call a 900 number
without giving anything in return for their money. Such a call may
even result in charges on a phone bill of $30 or more.
• Advance Fee Loan Schemes
– The advance fee swindler claims to be able to obtain a loan for a
prospective borrower with ease from a legitimate lending
institution, such as a bank or a savings and loan association.
However, the swindler has no ability to secure a loan.
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EXAMPLES OF MAIL FRAUD (cont'd)
• Work-at-Home Schemes
– Advertised opportunities to earn money by doing work
at home are frequently nothing more than fraudulent
schemes and, at best, rarely result in any meaningful
earnings.
• Home Improvement and Home Repair Frauds
– A favorite trick of dishonest home repair firms is to
mail a brochure offering to do an expensive job for an
unusually low price. Once the contract is signed, the
homeowner learns why the price was so low. The firm
never delivers the service which was paid for in
advance.
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WHITE COLLAR CRIME
• Defined as a crime committed by a person of
respectability and high social status in the
course of his or her occupation
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PYRAMID SALES SCHEME
• This is a marketing program by which people
buy the right to sell others the right to sell
specific products
• The promoters select the product. These may
include:
– household items
– cosmetics
– safety devices
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PYRAMID SALES SCHEME (cont'd)
• The promoters sell large inventories to
distributors with the added incentive of
permitting the distributor to sell new
distributorships
• The real profit earned primarily by recruiters
developing new recruits who develop more
recruits
• There is little or no concern given to direct sale
of the products or services to the public
• Ultimately consumer distribution becomes a
sham and acts as a cloak of respectability
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MONEY LAUNDERING
• Before spending or otherwise using any funds
obtained from illegal sources, criminals must
give the money an aura of legality. This
conversion is known as laundering.
– The Laundering of Money by Organized Crime.
Organized crime is an estimated $100 billion-a-year
untaxed business operated by groups ranging from
motorcycle gangs, to Asian drug triads, to the Italian
Mafia.
– Domestic Laundries. Businesses such as restaurants,
bars, and massage parlors, which take in a high
proportion of cash, tend to be more desirable as
laundries than businesses that receive most of their
income as checks or other traceable instruments.
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MONEY LAUNDERING (cont'd)
– Foreign Laundries. Much of the money invested by
organized crime in legitimate businesses in the United
States is first routed through secret numbered bank
accounts in countries such as Liechtenstein.
– Use of the Internet to Launder Money. One method of
money laundering through the Internet is to establish
a company offering services payable through the
Internet.
– Internet Gambling. It seems that Internet gambling
might be an ideal web-based “service” to serve as a
cover for a money laundering scheme through the
net.
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NUDE BAR: A FOCUS ON MONEY LAUNDERING
• Money laundering by
organized crime often
uses cash-oriented
business such as:
– restaurants
– bars
– adult entertainment venues
© Joel Gordon
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LAUNDERING OF MONEY FROM ILLICIT SOURCES
• Organized crime has many sources of illegal funds that
must be intermingled with legitimate business’ monies
• This process known as money laundering makes it
difficult for investigators to trace the illegal funds
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RACKETEERING RECORDS ANALYSIS UNIT (RRAU)
• This is part of the FBI Laboratory in Washington,
DC. which can establish the necessary links
between criminal and money laundering by
examining records kept by criminals
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IDENTITY THEFT
• Common ways thieves gather other person's
identifying information include:
– Dumpster Diving. Individuals or businesses that fails
to dispose properly of personal identification
information, by shredding or mutilating, are
susceptible to a "dumpster diver."
– This is essentially an individual who retrieves
discarded material looking for anything of value.
– Mail Theft. Mail theft presents another way criminals
obtain personal identification information.
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IDENTITY THEFT (cont'd)
– Internal Access. Internal access refers to an individual
obtaining personal information illegally from a
computer connected to a credit reporting bureau or to
an employee accessing a company's database that
contains personal identification information.
– Computerized Information and the Internet. With so
much personal information obtainable in the
networked world, thieves can access information
easily.
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14-18(b)
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RECOMMENDATIONS AND STRATEGIES FOR
PREVENTING IDENTITY THEFT
• Local police can take the following steps to help
citizens protect against identity theft:
– Patrol residential areas on trash collection days and
during the tax season
– Enforce trespass laws with regard to residential and
industrial dump sites
– Advise citizens to shred documents and drop off mail
in a locked mailbox
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RECOMMENDATIONS AND STRATEGIES FOR
PREVENTING IDENTITY THEFT (cont'd)
– Remind people to be cautious using automated teller
machines
– Disseminate information to the public on how to
mitigate and prevent computer, credit, and cellular
telephone fraud
– Suggest restrictions to businesses to reduce internal
access fraud
– Educate officers about the various methods used to
commit identity theft and the resulting types of fraud
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THE LOOTING OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
• Archaeological looting is defined as the illegal,
unscientific removal of archaeological resources.
It occurs on public and private lands.
• Legal Considerations
– Federal Provisions. Federal preservation laws date
from the late nineteenth century.
– State Laws. As of mid-1990, none of the states had a
unified law comprising all statutes protecting
archaeological resources. Instead, states tend to
categorize laws related to archaeological resources
under a variety of headings.
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THE LOOTING OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
(cont'd)
• Conducting Enforcement Investigations
– Different laws apply when the violation occurs on
federal land as opposed to state land
– There are relatively few laws applicable to private
lands as opposed to the more heavily protected public
lands
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LOOTED GRAVE
• Archaeological locations of public and tribal
land, has increased due to:
– the widespread fascination with our past
– the high dollar value associated with artifacts
(Courtesy National Park Service)
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