Virtually any business can be susceptible to white-collar crime. Of course, a lack of safeguards can make this type of crime easier to commit.
For instance, employees at any business could take advantage of inadequate accounting systems. Also, one common white-collar crime is money laundering, which individuals can carry out more easily through cash-intensive businesses.
That said, white-collar crime can be especially prevalent in industries such as health care and mortgage lending. Here are two reasons why.
Heavily regulated industries
Health care and mortgage lending are heavily regulated industries with standards and paperwork involved. Making just one or two mistakes could result in criminal charges, such as mortgage fraud.
At the same time, all of these regulations can work to mask the fact that one or many parties have committed a crime.
It is both the applicants for mortgage loans and the people involved with lending money who can face charges. For instance, misrepresenting your income on an application could lead to a criminal charge.
Also, some property flippers may flip properties in quick succession to mask fraudulent appraisals. On the business side, a company that promises to help applicants prevent foreclosure might accept money from an applicant then do nothing to stave off the foreclosure.
Examples of health care fraud include doctors billing for charges they never performed or double billing. It can also include Medicare and Medicaid fraud, both on the business and patient side. For example, someone who might not qualify for Medicaid changes the application and documentation so that he or she can qualify.
Many opportunities
The health care and mortgage lending industries can also be ripe for fraud because there are so many opportunities.
Every day, mortgage applications and medical reimbursements roll in. It can be tempting for an employee to misappropriate, say, every 10th application or reimbursement and watch the money accrue.