Engineers and White-Collar Crime

Abstract

Generally, engineers are held in high esteem for honesty and ethics. Even so, some engineers commit white-collar crimes. This paper provides a brief overview of white-collar crime. The fraud triangle is used as a framework to better understand why engineers would participate in white-collar crime. In addition, three case studies are presented where reputable engineers either participated in, or were pressured to participate in, white-collar crime. It is expected that this paper will be of interest to engineering educators who teach engineering ethics. It is also hoped that this paper will be of interest to practicing engineers who may feel pressure to commit white-collar crime