Which term describes the perceived legitimacy that helps hide wrongdoing?

• A. Affordance of trust and legitimacy
• B. Shoplifting
• C. Confidence game
• D. High-tech crimes

Answer: (A)

Affordance of trust and legitimacy describes how something can project an appearance of being proper and trustworthy, which criminals exploit to conceal illicit acts. When processes, institutions, or symbols look legitimate, people grant them de facto authority and scrutiny eases, so wrongdoing can pass unnoticed. This isn’t about committing a crime itself or the technique used to commit it; it’s about the social perception that enables those acts to be hidden. A confidence game, for example, is a deception tactic that relies on gaining trust, but the broader mechanism of a legitimate-appearing context that masks wrongdoing is best captured by the concept of affording trust and legitimacy. Shoplifting is the crime itself, and high-tech crimes describe the methods used, not the perception that allows concealment.