Over 100 years ago the terms like “white-collar worker” and “blue-collar job” were coined to refer to types of jobs. White-collar referred to workers who were paid a salary and their jobs were performed in offices by men wearing a white collared shirt and tie. Blue-collar referred to workers who were paid by the hour, worked outside of an office and were performed by men involved in manual labor. They wore uniforms, coveralls or jeans all in blue.
Today, these labels aren’t just about professions—they also describe types of crime. And just like job roles, crimes vary in complexity, motive, and impact. From financial fraud to environmental violations, from digital scams to violent offenses, each “collar” tells a different story.
Why This Matters
Understanding the distinctions between crime types helps:
- Identify warning signs
- Understand who’s affected
- Strengthen prevention efforts
In this series, we’ll walk through each collar classification. We’ll define the crimes, explore real-life examples, and explain how they impact communities—including here in Utah.
The “Collar” Crime Classifications
White-Collar Crime
- People in corporate settings—department heads or top officials with access to sensitive financial information—commit these crimes for financial gain.
- They target a group rather than an individual.
- Key traits of these non-violent crimes include concealment, deceit, and betrayal of trust.
- Examples include Embezzlement, insider trading, and securities fraud.
Pink-Collar Crime
- Women are outpacing men in this area of criminality.
- Workers, mostly female – who don’t have the position of power but do have access to the same sensitive information – are committing these financial crimes.
- Their actions often betray the trust of supervisors and harm the organizations they work for.
- Examples include check tampering and forgery.
Red-Collar Crime
- White-collar criminals who will do anything to make sure they don’t get caught.
- They target people who know too much and threaten to expose a white-collar criminal.
- Key traits are violence to silence whistleblowers or witnesses.
- Examples are assault, attempted murder, or murder to cover up fraud.
Blue-Collar Crime
- Working-class individuals – often with immediate or emotional motives – commit these crimes.
- They target a clear victim rather than a large organization.
- Key traits are crimes that are physical, direct, and personal
- Examples include assault, robbery, theft, and vandalism.
Orange-Collar Crime
- Working class individuals commit financial crimes.
- They target clients or employers.
- Tradespeople or manual laborers use their access to tools or knowledge of their workplace to commit crimes
- Examples include burglary using work tools, internal theft and embezzlement.
Green-Collar Crime
- People commit crimes against the environment.
- The victim is mother earth.
- Key traits include illegal exploitation of natural resources
- Examples encompass poaching, wildlife trafficking, and pollution.
Black-Collar Crime
- Anytime individuals – pastors, clergy, priests, bishops – in religious authority commit any type of “collar” crime including abuse, embezzlement, fraud.
- They target people in their religious communities.
- Key traits include abusing trust given because of religious appointments.
- Examples encompass financial theft, sexual misconduct, and cover-ups.
Grey-Collar Crime
- Individuals commit technology-based crimes anonymously without physical contact.
- They target people or companies that have vulnerabilities in their network systems.
- Key traits include digital tools used to exploit victims remotely.
- Examples encompass hacking, identity theft, phishing and online scams.
Silver-Collar Crime
- Individuals exploit the trust and vulnerability of the older community.
- Victims include older individuals or those with impaired decision-making.
- Examples encompass guardianship abuse, financial scams, and neglect.