It is multifaceted and cannot be described conclusively due to its dependence on economic, technical and social developments as well as the legal framework. A generally recognized definition of white-collar crime therefore does not exist in Germany.
The definition of white-collar crime used by the criminal prosecution authorities is based on the list of offenses in § 74 c Para. 1 Nos. 1 - 6 of the German Courts Constitution Act, which defines the jurisdiction of the commercial criminal chambers at the regional courts. The provisions mentioned here, e.g. investment fraud, subsidy fraud or insolvency offenses, illustrate the complexity and diversity of white-collar crime.
Two facts that have emerged in the course of many years of statistical analysis of white-collar crime are noteworthy:
- Less than one percent of all statistically registered crimes can be attributed to white-collar crime. In 2015, the NRW police recorded a total of 9,282 white-collar crimes out of a total of around 1.5 million crimes
- On the other hand, white-collar crime causes around 35 to 50% of the total damage caused by all criminal offenses. The total damage recorded for economic crimes amounted to € 648 million, which means that the share of the total damage of all crimes amounting to € 1.73 billion is approximately € 37.5 %.
The LKA NRW publishes an annual report on economic crime in NRW. This situation report also shows the exceptionally high level of social damage caused by white-collar crime compared to other crime phenomena.
To combat this crime phenomenon, the 16 police headquarters in the state and the LKA NRW have specially specialized departments with specially trained staff.
