Crime 101 - Bribery

This is very likely going to be a small post. There isn't, after all, all that much to bribery, but with Tuesday's post having been about Extortion, I felt i should take the time to cover Bribery really quickly as well. So, with that in mind, lets take a look at one of the most straight forward crimes out there.

Reverse Extortion
Bribery is, in many ways, the reverse of extortion. You don't take a hostage, nor do you take money (the usual ransom) from your target. Instead, with Bribery you give money, or something else of value, to someone in exchange for some good, or service. That is really all there is to bribery. In many ways it is like buying someone's car when the car isn't for sale. "I'll give you 300k for that car, right now", "um...ok". Sure, that isn't something illegal, necessarily, but you have still simply paid for something you wanted, that normally wasn't up for grabs.

So, to boil it down to its basic elements. Bribery has three elements to it. What you want, the Target, and the Bribe. Let's take a look at each of thoe.

What You Want
Much like it was in Extortion, finding out what you want is the easy part. Do you want someone to let you into their master's house? Do you want the security codes for a vault door? Perhaps the passenger manifest for a ship that just left port? Either way, you know what you want. Just like with Extortion, this helps determine your...

Target
Just like with Extortion, you want the Target to be someone who can get you what you want. Bribing Susan for a passenger manifest does no good, if Susan can't get you the passenger manifest. So, look for who it is you want. You are still looking for vulnerability, but you are looking for a different kind of vulnerability. You don't want someone with something you can take (that'd be extortion). You want someone who needs something. Maybe it is drugs, maybe they're in bad with a bookie. Either way, you want someone who needs something that you have. Then, you just need to make the...

Bribe
So, you have your target, and you know what they want. Next, you just have to give it to them in exchange for what they want. Playing this out, this can be a lot like making a sale. You need to convince the person to make the exchange. "Come on, think of what you could do with this money. You could pay off your debts, and still have enough to buy your girl a ring and take her on a nice cruise. All I need in exchange is the codes to the security system. The money is insured, the only person being hurt here is the insurance company, and like they need to be protected right?"

If you've marked your target right, and have enough of a bribe, than you're in business. You give the cash, or whatever it is they wanted, they give you what you wanted, and you both go off. Unlike in extortion, odds are you both go off happy here too. They got paid, you got what you want. Business is good.

This is also what makes bribery interesting. Once it has happened once, the door is open for it to happen multiple times. After all, you know the person will take the money. And if it worked out well last time, why wouldn't it continue to do so?