Criminology
Section B:
Theme 3: Economically Motivated Crimes
Property Crime(p 380)
Copper and cable and aluminium theft (pg 280-281)
Copper cable, high monetary value
Two groups responsible for theft of non-ferrous metals
o Opportunistic thieves
Syndicates, may work in conjunction with organised criminal groups.
Syndicates will use drug users, bc they offer them Tik, crystal meth in
order for them to steal
Steal small pieces of cable
Addicted to drugs and steals to support the habit
Called Kamikazes bc after they use tik and are high, they lose regard
for their own lives and are willing to cut electric cables without any
concern about being electrocuted
Unemployment, reason for cable theft, usually involved in collection of
scrap metal for subsistence purposes
Repeat offenders
Likely to be illegal immigrants, who after being caught are deported
their countries of origin
o Organized criminal group
Well-equipped with industrial cutting tools, trucks, pulleys to steal
large amounts of non-ferrous metals
Organise themselves as either metal spotters, cutters, or transporters
Within informal training centre , learns tricks of trade near Joburg.
Steal long sections of cable after first cut off the electricity , lower risk
of being electricity.
Set fire to portion of cable, short circuit trips power at station
Once they’ve successfully stolen cable, give them to bucket shop dealer:
o Bucket Shop dealer: someone who are unregistered in scrap metal.
Deal with stolen metal and usually operate in residential areas.
Cables are not only sold to scrap metal dealers but there is an emerging trend of
copper melting plants in remote rural areas
Cables are melted into ingots before they are shipped overseas and the stolen
copper is very often trafficked to China and India for the manufacturing of electronic
components
Cable thieves:
o Work at night
o Prefer remote areas as there may not be cable alarms to alert the authorities
o Work with military style precision
o They do not work when it rains for fear of being electrocuted
The role players in copper cable:
Level 1: cutters/thieves
Level 2: bucket shops, unregistered scrap metal dealer
Level 3: recruiters/facilitators/distributers
, Level 4: once melted in ingot, goes to exporters/scrap metal dealers receiving stolen
copper
Level 5: translation facilitators (goes over our borders)
Contributing factors to the theft of non-ferrous metals
o illegal immigrants in south Africa desperate for work
o increased unemployment
o Involvement of organized crime syndicates
o Demand for copper and aluminium
o Limited control over the export of metals to other countries
o Availability of scrap metal dealers who knowingly buy stolen copper
o The light sentences for this type of crime imposed by the criminal justice
system (CJS)
Telekom, to reduce cable theft, introduce toll free crime report line, so member of
public can report any suspicious behaviour
Eskom cutting groove in aluminium cable to prove it belongs to them
Most effective tool in fight against copper cable theft: is the implementation of
Second-Hand Goods Act 6 of 2009, which stipulates that any person buying stolen
goods, including copper cables, is as guilty as the person who stole the goods. If a
dealer is found guilty, the court can impose a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Commercial crimes (page 382)
Definition: all types of fraud, forgery, misappropriation and embezzlement
Fraudulent investment schemes promises investors that they will receive high return
on their investment-much higher returns than conventional institutions such as banks
would pay
1. Ponzi and pyramid schemes (page 382-383)
Ponzi schemes
Also known as money multiplication schemes
Investors are led to believe that should they invest capital in the scheme, they will
enjoy higher than normal rate of return and at a later stage will receive a lump-sum
payment
The "returns" paid to investors are made using their own capital investment
There are no profits
Scheme has to collapse at some stage because survival of scheme depends on
more investors joining
o once they run out of investors, scheme will collapse
named after Charles Ponzi
The largest reported Ponzi scheme ever reported was run by Bernard L. Madoff
o chairman of Nasdaq
o American scheme in 2009.
o Arrested for operating a $65 billion Ponzi scheme that spanned over three
decades.
o The scheme eventually collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis when
investors wanted to redeem their funds, which Madoff was obviously unable
to do
