Two brothers create fake companies with fake employees, and then file fake wage reports with the California Employment Development Department (EDD) that report fake earnings for these fake employees. Then the fake companies "lay off" the fake employees and the fake employees file for and collect unemployment benefits from the EDD, which the brothers then split. The brothers make several million dollars as a result of this scheme.
That's actually a fairly creative crime. The only reason they got busted was because an anonymous person tipped off the feds on a hotline. Otherwise the brothers would still be making money to this day.
Definitely more lucrative than robbing a bank or most of your "traditional" crimes.
Plus, even after one of the brothers gets caught, he pleads guilty without a deal and only gets seven years in prison. So live it up for quite a while with millions of dollars in your pocket and then serve some time. Not the worst life in the world.
Totally immoral, of course. But still. Creative.
Rational criminality, perhaps.
