Forensics Journal - Stevenson University 2015 | Page 34

STEVENSON UNIVERSITY

People often correlate the criminals who perpetrate affinity frauds
to the white collar crimes they commit and assume that these
offenders do not exhibit behaviors most often associated with
perpetrators of street crime. This is an incorrect assumption as
studies have indicated that the profile of an affinity fraudster is akin
to offenders who commit conventional crimes (Perri and Brody Optics
356). Perpetrators of affinity fraud are often regarded as “predatory”
because they target specific communities or organizations. These
offenders frequently exhibit the ability to interpret their victims’
behaviors and fine tune their approach to anticipate and dispel
any objections by the targeted individuals. Convicted affinity
fraudsters interviewed in a study displayed antisocial behaviors:
pathological lying, lacking empathy, and blaming the ignorance
of their victims (Perri & Brody Optics 364). If regulators and other
law enforcement personnel remained attentive to the profile of an
affinity fraud offender, they might be able to more readily identify
the perpetrators and hopefully impede the progression of the frauds.

how to avoid these frauds. One former SEC employee stated that
the agency “has chosen to stick some ambulances at the bottom of
the cliff rather than build fences at the top” (Affinity Fraud: Fleecing,