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Introduction
There is a perception among some members of the public that fraud is a 'victimless' crime or has little impact (Duffield and Grabosky, 2001; Fraud Advisory Panel, 2006). Some fraudsters also use this argument as a defence, if not against conviction then against a serious penalty. This perception comes largely because of credit card frauds and frauds against the government or large corporations: in the former victims tend to get their money back; in the latter it is argued that victims have sufficient resources to absorb the losses.
Such arguments are rarely used to justify crime such as burglary, where many victims have their property restored and others can absorb the loss or reclaim it through insurance. Moreover, fraud is a very diverse offence and encompasses an extensive range of behaviours (Doig, 2006; Levi, 2008). It is an offence, which can be committed by one individual against another or by an organisation against an individual or by an individual against an organisation (Levi, 1981, 2008; Whyte, 2007).
The offence can be clearly distinguished as a crime or it can often be considered as a civil matter. This article will focus upon frauds perpetrated against individuals, largely by other individuals where it is commonly accepted to be criminal behaviour.
Many frauds - even when the financial impact is minimal - can still have a devastating impact upon victims (Spalek, 1999; Office of Fair Trading (OFT), 2006; Pascoe et al , 2006). Moreover, in a good proportion of frauds the financial impact is very significant, especially frauds against small businesses, whose very existence is sometime threatened by the financial impact of the fraud.
Up to now in the United Kingdom and beyond there has been little research on the victims of white collar crime (Slapper and Tombs, 1999; Levi, 2001; Croall, 2007; Fooks et al , 2007; Tombs and Whyte, 2007) and even less on fraud, with identity fraud and American fraud victims receiving the most attention (see, Ganzini et al , 1990; Deem, 2000; Shichor et al , 2001; Titus and Gover, 2001; Federal Trade Commission, 2003, 2007; Fraud Advisory Panel, 2006; Pascoe et al , 2006; Winterdyk and Filipuzzi, 2009). Much of the focus of the impact of fraud is orientated around the...