Author: Prof Michael Levi, University of Cardiff
ISBN No: 978-0-7546-451
Review date: 13/12/2025
No of pages: 356
Publisher: Ashgate
Year of publication: 11/09/2012
Brief:
If the UK and the world is indeed in an economic slow-down, it's an appropriate time for a new, revised edition of a book on long-firm fraud.
The Phantom Capitalists by Michael Levi came out in 1981 and was based on mid-1970s doctorate work. Briefly, long-firm fraud is a business run with the aim of defrauding creditors. The fraudsters will issue large orders for supplies – of anything under the sun – and re-sell them and disappear before the credit runs out. Or, via VAT, HM Revenue and Customs may be defrauded. What’s relevant in tougher economic times is that the scheme may from the start seek to defraud victims; or, however optimistically, people may start by obeying the law, and may turn to fraud, or they may find themselves on the slippery slope, doing deceptions as business goes downhill. Levi notes in a long new introduction that (white-collar) fraud is still a neglected topic for study – ‘most criminologists are uninterested in business, especially as a victim of crime’. A question that has bugged Levi over the years: how do fraudsters organise themselves? What sort of skills are required for frauds, what sort of a person is a fraudster – which might help law enforcers to spot the bad guys?! Why might a fraudster stop? What is an acceptable commercial risk, in giving credit? Culture comes into it too, people’s willingness to be in debt, for instance. Levi charts recent fraud against corporates, such as corporate hijacking; identity hijackers appointing genuine people as directors and ‘front men’; or companies created with names and e-addresses similar to those already existing. What makes a fraudster tick, someone who can shrug off identities like a chameleon can change colours, or the executive who uses company assets for personal benefit? Levi notes the rise of police performance indicators, not including fraud; and that there are far fewer police officers specialising in fraud cases. "Policing resources are a zero-sum game, so unless the fraudsters also are suspected of committing other higher-prioritised offences, fraudsters have a comparative advantage."
