Fraud takes new forms on internet

Michael Levi. Photo / Supplied

In 19th century London, a German immigrant ordered on credit a gross - 144 - of glass eyes from a German manufacturer, with no intention of paying.

Unfortunately, the would-be fraudster found there was no market for his ill-gotten optical wear so was forced to on-sell them to another fraudster, recouping only the cost of postage.

You wouldn't expect glass eyes to be the subject of fraud, said Cardiff University professor Michael Levi, but after nearly 40 years studying fraud and white collar crime nothing surprises him.

Levi is in New Zealand as the keynote speaker at the White Collar Crime and Serious Fraud Conference today at the University of Auckland Business School.

He joins Serious Fraud Office chief executive Adam Feeley, barrister Paul Dale and academics speaking on fraud detection, regulation and prosecution.

Levi said the internet has transformed the scale of fraud.

"There's nothing new about international fraud.

"It's not itself a product of globalisation but the internet has certainly transformed the potential for schemes because people have got used to supplying their credit card details or responding to international calls even if in some cases they think they're dealing with someone in their own country."

Levi said the democratisation of disposable income has created the democratisation of fraud. "That's generated huge fraud opportunities for scammers in dealing with people who are relatively inexperienced in financial services."

While the "widows and orphans" style frauds, where the elderly and infirm are sold shonky investments, grab the headlines, said Levi, people struggle with fraud committed by seemingly honest and good people.

It is the "slippery slope" category - people who are normally honest but begin to tell white lies or fail to inform people fully of the truth in order to keep the business going.

Levi said people are often reluctant to come to the conclusion that fraud is being committed when somebody has lived an otherwise good life, even though the economic harm can be just as great, if not greater, precisely because we trust these people.

"It's the thing about our attitude to crime that we think about criminals as always bad, but very often in some of the big serious fraud type cases or where allegations are made people did start off honest."

Levi questions whether a move to criminal prosecution actually works or is simply indulging our feelings of revenge.

"Often professional sanctions are enough to stop them from reoffending where the public may think they got off too lightly," he said. "Whether it's doing any good in terms of deterring them I'm frankly doubtful about but it's part of the legitimacy aspect of criminal justice that these guys be given a hard time."

ON THE WEB

www.business.auckland.ac.nz