What Is Racketeering?

Racketeering is an example of an organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegally coordinated scheme or operation to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit.

The term “racketeering” was coined by the Employers’ Association of Chicago in June 1927 in a statement which touched on the influence of organized crime in the Teamsters union.

Racketeering was explained by the statement as being a service that calls forth its own demand, and would not have been needed otherwise.

Major Examples

1. Fraud and embezzlement operations, including: credit card fraud, check fraud, health care fraud, welfare fraud, insurance fraud, employment fraud, lottery fraud, disability fraud, charity fraud, mail and wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud, mortgage fraud, telemarketing fraud, return fraud, false billing and electoral fraud.
2. Confidence tricks, including: romance scams, larceny, overpayment scams and advance-fee scams.
3. Counterfeit operations, including: Counterfeit consumer goods such as counterfeit medications, counterfeit electronic components, counterfeit watches, copyright infringement, art forgery and identity document forgery.
4. Identity theft and sale of personal data.
5. Contract killing or murder-for-hire services.
6. White-collar financial crime operations, including: front running, market manipulation, and insider trading.
7. Bribery and police corruption.
8. Organized academic dishonesty by school administrators, essay mills, contract cheating, diploma mills.

There are numerous examples but I hope these will give you a fair idea of what racketeering is and will serve as a guide to prevent you from becoming a victim.