Fraud

In the broadest sense, a fraud is a deception made for personal gain, although it has a more specific legal meaning, the exact details varying between jurisdictions. Many hoaxes are fraudulent, although those not made for personal gain are not best described in this way. Not all frauds are hoaxes - electoral fraud, for example. Fraud permeates many areas of life, including art, archaelogogy and science. In the broad legal sense a fraud is any crime or civil wrong for gain that utilises some deception practiced on the victim as its principal method.

English Law

In England and Wales fraud is a generic term used to describe a number of offences in which the overriding component is that of deception. There are allied torts at civil law such as Conversion.

Related Topics:
England - Wales

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Each of the criminal offences have a further common element of dishonesty, although in some there is no requirement that the dishonest person is intent on gaining himself, it is sufficient that he has an intent to cause to loss to another.

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The criminal offences of fraud are to be found, principally, in the Theft Act 1968, the Theft Act 1978 and the Theft (Amendment) Act 1996 which created the new offence of Obtaining a Money Transfer by Deception. More specific offences may be found in other statutes such as Impersonation of a Police Officer as defined in Sec. 90 of the Police Act 1996; or Using a Forged Instrument within the terms of the Forgery & Counterfeiting Act 1981 (previously an offence known under the somewhat prosaic term of "Uttering").

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Criminal offences of fraud at English Law:

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• Obtaining Property by Deception
• Obtaining Services by Deception
• Obtaining a Pecuniary Advantage by Deception
• False Accounting
• False Statements by Company Directors
• Suppression of Documents
• Retaining a Wrongful Credit