Technology, White-Collar Cybercrime, and White-Collar Crime: An Analysis of Utah’s White-Collar Crime Registry Data

Abstract

Few studies have considered the impact of technology on white-collar crime. This study examines the use of technology in white-collar cybercrimes and compares them to other varieties of white-collar crime using a sample of convicted offenders from Utah’s white-collar criminal registry. The results show that white-collar crimes that were not committed through computer technology were more likely to be incidents such as securities fraud while the white-collar cybercrimes were more likely to be committed by younger offenders and target small businesses and business owners. In addition, few of the white-collar cybercrimes involved the more serious types of cybercrimes (data breaches/hacking, etc.) identified by cyber criminologists. Consistent with past research, the level of technical skills needed among white-collar cybercriminals appeared minimal.