Economic crime report 2004 - Ekobrottsmyndigheten

Economic crime, and therefore EBM’s sphere of activity, was in the media
spotlight during 2003. The publicity survey that the agency conducted
among the major morning newspapers in the first half of 2003 reflected
that interest. The analysis revealed that the press covered economic crime
twice as much in 2003 as the year before.
Other efforts to raise awareness about crime prevention activities included
participation at seminars, information offerings for schoolchildren and
students, and meetings with agencies, organizations and other interested
parties in the field. One of the informational brochures that EBM put
together was aimed at newly started small businesses and dealt with false
accounting
An economic crime symposium arranged in November by EBM and
Jönköping International Business School attracted some 20 leading European
researchers in addition to the cooperating agencies.
In the autumn of 2003, EBM conducted a survey on the attitudes of
Swedes toward economic crime. More than half of the interviewees said
that such offences are fairly widespread in Sweden. Over one-third said
that it was very widespread. The figures are somewhat higher than a similar
2001 survey.
Almost half of those questioned said that they had contact with at least
one person who did not declare their income over the past year or with
someone who hired such workers. That was particularly true of men,
young people with college educations and high-income earners. A total
of 82.9% of the respondents felt that society and politicians were not
doing enough to combat economic crime. The youngest age group (18-
24) deviated from the consensus.
Important to keep in mind is that SKV noted in its periodic attitude
surveys that young people grew more accepting of undeclared work from
1998 to 2001. In addition, a series of similar studies commissioned by
EBM have shown that young people today are more tolerant of undeclared
work and economic crime than previous generations.
SKV subsequently carried out an informational drive aimed at 16-20 year
olds. In order to gauge the impact of the campaign, a preliminary survey
was conducted in the spring of 2002. Following a year of activities, a new
study in the spring of 2003 indicated that fewer young people thought
that undeclared work was legitimate and more repudiated the idea. Now
that the informational effort has proceeded for another year, the results
of a third survey are in the process of compilation. Preliminary findings
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