The word “white-collar crime” implies to nonviolent crime that is motivated by and perpetrated by business and government officials. In 1939, sociologist Edwin Sutherland described it as “a crime committed in the course of one’s employment by an individual of respectability and high social standing.” Deception, concealment, or breach of confidence are the main elements of a white-collar crime and they do not include the use or act of aggression or abuse. These crimes are motivated by a desire to acquire or prevent losing money, assets, or resources, or to gain a private or corporate benefit. There aren’t crimes with no victims. A single scam can bankrupt a business, wipe out a family’s entire savings, or the stakeholders’ crores of rupees.

The COVID-19 epidemic has altered several parts of human existence, including the manner we live and work. As a result, there has been an upsurge in financial frauds. 2020 will be a year that only a few of us will remember. Fraudulent activities have climbed by 33% from April, per the statistics by Experian and the National Hunter Fraud Prevention Center. As per the reports action fraud, scams and cyberattacks have increased by 400 percent in the United Kingdom.

As per a research released in November 2020 by Transparency International, India seems to have the greatest level of bribing in Asia, i.e., 39 percent of respondents polled saying how they paid bribes for utilizing government services.

In the paper I will be discussing about the steps that can be taken to curb the white-collar crimes in this pandemic affected digital world, like, the state should enact rules which are stringent enough to prevent such offences from being committed. As well as the mechanism must be set up so that not only are there rules that penalise the convicted harshly.

Keywords: Bribing, Concealment, Corporate benefit, Deception, Non-violent

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