Which term describes the affordance of trust and legitimacy, where people or companies are trusted because of their position, making wrongdoing easier to hide?

• A. Money laundering
• B. Confidence game
• C. Shoplifting
• D. Affordance of trust and legitimacy

Answer: (D)

The main idea is that trust and legitimacy granted by position or status can act as an affordance that makes wrongdoing easier to hide. When people or companies are seen as credible authorities, their actions are taken at face value and subjected to less scrutiny. This social credit — the sense that they must be honest because they hold a respected role or authority — creates cover for illicit activity, allowing it to go unnoticed or unchallenged.

This term directly names that dynamic: trust and legitimacy become a built-in feature of the environment that can be exploited to conceal improper conduct. It’s about how perception of authority, rather than the act itself, shapes how easily wrongdoing can be masked.

Other options describe specific crimes or scams (for example, methods to move illicit funds, or acts of theft or deception) but they don’t capture the broader social mechanism by which legitimacy enables concealment. The emphasis here is on the enabling effect of perceived authority, not on the crime itself.