List of types of fraud

{{Short description|none}} In law, fraud is an intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law or criminal law, or it may cause no loss of money, property, or legal right but still be an element of another civil or criminal wrong.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dictionary.law.com/default.aspx?selected=785 |title=Legal Dictionary: fraud |publisher=Law.com |access-date=27 January 2016}}</ref> The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, for example by obtaining a passport, travel document, or driver's license, or mortgage fraud, where the perpetrator may attempt to qualify for a mortgage by way of false statements.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2004/Oct/BasicLegalConcepts.htm |title=Basic Legal Concepts |publisher=Journal of Accountancy |date= October 2004|access-date=18 December 2013}}</ref> In contrast, a hoax is a distinct concept that involves deliberate deception without the intention of gain or of materially damaging or depriving a victim.

== Types ==

The list is not exhaustive.

* 419, see {{slink||Advance-fee}} * {{vanchor|Advance-fee|advance-fee fraud}}{{snd}}involves promising a victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the fraudster claims will be used to obtain the large sum.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.tele.2019.04.009|title=The bifurcation of the Nigerian cybercriminals: Narratives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) agents|year=2019|last1=Lazarus|first1=Suleman|last2=Okolorie|first2=Geoffrey U.|journal=Telematics and Informatics|volume=40|pages=14–26|s2cid=150113120}}</ref> * Affinity{{snd}}a form of {{slink||investment fraud}} in which the fraudster preys upon members of identifiable groups, such as religious or ethnic communities, language minorities, the elderly, or professional groups, by gaining their {{slink||confidence}} and using unsuspecting community leaders to help further the scheme.<ref>{{cite web |author=U. S. Security and Exchange Commission |date=9 October 2013 |url=https://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/affinity.htm |title=Affinity Fraud:How To Avoid Investment Scams That Target Groups}}</ref> * Asset diversion, see {{slink||Insurance}} * Bait-and-switch * Bank{{snd}}the use of potentially illegal means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institution, or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently posing as a bank or other financial institution.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SB&p_theme=sb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB0DB1978FC04F6&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM#ixzz1HKfqBQGC|title=Newsbank - The Sacramento Bee & Sacbee.com}}</ref> The term applies to actions that employ a scheme or artifice, as opposed to bank robbery or theft. * Bankruptcy{{snd}}concealment of assets by a debtor to avoid liquidation in bankruptcy proceedings; may include filing of false information, or multiple filings in different jurisdictions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bankruptcy fraud {{!}} Wex {{!}} US Law |date= |website=Legal Information Institute |publisher=Cornell University |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/bankruptcy_fraud |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829073637/https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/bankruptcy_fraud |archive-date=29 August 2011 |access-date=22 June 2022}}</ref> * Benefits (U.K.) * Billing * Birth certificate<ref name="h287">{{cite journal | last=VB | first=Penchaszadeh | title=Genetic identification of children of the disappeared in Argentina | journal=Journal of the American Medical Women's Association | volume=52 | issue=1 | issn=0098-8421 | pmid=9033167 | page=}}</ref> * Bride * {{vanchor|Chargeback}}, Friendly{{snd}}where a consumer makes an online shopping purchase with their credit card, and then requests a chargeback from the issuing bank after receiving the purchased goods or services. Once the chargeback is approved, this cancels the financial transaction, and the consumer receives a refund of the money they spent, and the merchant can be held accountable for the chargeback amount.<ref>{{cite web |last=Poole |first=Riley |title= Understanding Friendly Fraud |website= Merchant Talk |date=5 January 2008 |url=https://www.merchanttalk.com/2008/01/05/understanding-friendly-fraud |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725054553/http://www.merchanttalk.com/2008/01/05/understanding-friendly-fraud/ |archive-date=2008-07-25 |url-status=usurped}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=June 2022}} * Charity * {{vanchor|Check}}, kiting, paper hanging{{snd}}a category that involves the unlawful use of checks in order to illegally acquire or borrow funds that do not exist within the bank account balance or account-holder's legal ownership. * Communication, see {{slink||Phone}} * {{vanchor|Confidence trick|confidence trick|confidence}}{{snd}}an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. They involve "voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", and benefit the fraudster ("con man") at the expense of the victim.<ref name=Huang18>{{cite journal |first1=Lindsey |last1=Huang |first2=Barak |last2=Orbach |title=Con Men and Their Enablers: The Anatomy of Confidence Games |journal=Social Research: An International Quarterly |year=2018 |volume=85 |issue=4 |pages=795–822 |doi=10.1353/sor.2018.0050 |url=https://ssrn.com/abstract=3228077|url-access=subscription }}</ref> * Contract * Conveyance, see {{slink||Transfer}} * Counterfeiting * Cramming{{snd}}a scheme in which small charges are added to a bill by a third party without the subscriber's consent or knowledge. These may be disguised as a tax, fee, or bogus service. The crammer's intent is that the subscriber will overlook and pay these small charges without dispute.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wbaltv.com/consumeralert/10009503/detail.html |title=Cramming A New Form Of Fraud, Officials Say - Consumer Alert News Story - WBAL Baltimore |publisher=WBAL-TV |date=2006-10-05 |access-date=2011-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218133435/http://www.wbaltv.com/consumeralert/10009503/detail.html |archive-date=February 18, 2012 }}</ref> * Creative accounting * Credit card and Carding * Disability{{snd}}the receipt of payment(s) intended for the disabled from a government agency or private insurance company by one who should not be receiving them, or the receipt of a higher amount than one is entitled to.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} * Drug, see {{slink||Pharmaceutical}} * {{vanchor|Elder}}{{snd}}any of several types of fraud in which older people are frequently targeted, including economic abuse, {{slink||romance}}, {{slink||lottery}}, and sweepstakes.<ref name="FBI Common Fraud Schemes ">{{cite web | url=https://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud | title=FBI Common Fraud Schemes | publisher=US Federal Bureau of Investigation | access-date=2 August 2013}}</ref> * {{vanchor|Electoral}}, or election manipulation, voter fraud, vote rigging{{snd}}illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of rival candidates, or both.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Myth of Voter Fraud |publisher=Brennan Center for Justice |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression/myth-voter-fraud|access-date=2020-11-07 |language=en |archive-date=2019-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927160321/https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/voter-fraud |url-status=live}}</ref> * Email * Embezzlement * {{vanchor|Employment}}{{snd}}the attempt to defraud people seeking employment by giving them false hope of better employment, offering better working hours, more respectable tasks, future opportunities, or higher wages.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://definitions.uslegal.com/e/employment-fraud|title=Employment Fraud Law and Legal Definition {{!}} USLegal, Inc.|website=definitions.uslegal.com|access-date=2019-09-06}}</ref> * Faked death * Fee churning, see {{section link||Insurance}} * Fertility{{snd}} the failure on the part of a fertility doctor to obtain consent from a patient before inseminating her with his own sperm.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fox |first1=Dov |last2=Cohen |first2=I. Glenn |last3=Adashi |first3=Eli Y. |title=Fertility Fraud, Legal Firsts, and Medical Ethics |journal=Obstetrics & Gynecology |date=November 2019 |volume=134 |issue=5 |pages=918–920 |doi=10.1097/AOG.0000000000003516 |pmid=31599835 |s2cid=204028910}}</ref> * Food fraud * Foreign exchange, or "Forex"{{snd}}any trading scheme used to defraud stock traders by convincing them that they can expect to gain a high profit by trading in the foreign exchange market. (U.S., 2008)<ref>{{cite news |last=Lindsay |first=Daniel |title=Regulatory Holes Provide A Playground For Forex Fraudsters |work=mahifx.com |date=2014-01-20 |url=https://mahifx.com/regulatory-holes/ |access-date=2014-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203112844/https://mahifx.com/regulatory-holes/ |archive-date=2014-02-03 }}</ref> * Forgery * Fortune telling fraud{{snd}}a type of {{slink||confidence trick}}, based on a claim of secret or occult information that only the grifter can detect or diagnose, and then charging the victim for ineffectual treatments.<ref>Illinois State Police, [http://www.isp.state.il.us/crime/citizenscam.cfm Common Citizen Scams], accessed Nov. 17, 2010</ref><ref>''People v. Bertsche'', 265 Ill. 272, 106 N.E. 823 (Ill. 1914)</ref> * Fraud in the factum{{snd}}use of misrepresentation to cause one to enter into a financial transaction without understanding the risks, duties, or obligations incurred.<ref>Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Pocket ed. 2001 pg. 293).</ref> * Friendly, see {{slink||Chargeback}} * {{vanchor|Front running}}{{snd}}entering into a stock trade or other securities transaction with foreknowledge of a large, nonpublic, pending transaction that will influence the price of the underlying security.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasdaq.com/investing/glossary/f/front-running|author=Nasdaq|title=Glossary: Front running}}</ref> See also {{slink||Securities}}. * Health care, see {{slink||Insurance|Pharmaceutical|Quackery}} * Hoax * honest services * Identity theft, Impersonation{{snd}}unauthorized use of another person's personal identifying information, such as name, identifying number, or credit card number (1964)<ref>{{cite web|date=September 2007|title=Oxford English Dictionary online|url=http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50111220/50111220se23|access-date=27 September 2010|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> * {{vanchor|Insurance}}{{snd}}any act committed to defraud an insurance process. It occurs when a claimant attempts to obtain some benefit or advantage they are not entitled to, or when an insurer knowingly denies some benefit that is due.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/insurance-fraud |title=FBI — Insurance Fraud |publisher=Fbi.gov |date=2005-09-08 |access-date=2014-02-07}}</ref> See also {{slink||Pharmaceutical}}. * Internet * {{vanchor|Investment|investment fraud}} * Job * Kiting, see {{slink||Check}} * Long firm * {{vanchor|Lottery|lottery}}{{snd}} ** any act committed to defraud a legitimate lottery, such as a perpetrator attempting to win a jackpot prize through fraudulent means; or in the case of a stolen lottery ticket, to defraud an individual of their legitimately won prize.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} ** a type of {{slink||advance-fee fraud}} that takes the form of informing an individual by email, letter or phone call that they have won a lottery prize. The victim is instructed to pay a fee to enable the non-existent winnings to be processed. * Mail and wire * Marriage * Medicare * {{vanchor|Mismarking}}{{snd}}when a trader assigns a value to securities that does not reflect what they are actually worth, due to intentional mispricing,<ref>[https://www.bis.org/bcbs/qisoprisknote.pdf "1QIS 2 - Operational Risk Loss Data – 4 May 2001,"] Bank of International Settlements</ref> allowing him to obtain a higher bonus from his employer, where the bonus is calculated as a percentage of the value of his securities portfolio.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=George J. Benston|title=Fair-value accounting: A cautionary tale from Enron|journal=Journal of Accounting and Public Policy |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=465–484 |date=July–August 2006 |doi=10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2006.05.003}}</ref> See also {{slink||Securities}}. * Mortgage * Nigerian prince, see {{slink||Advance-fee}} * Odometer{{snd}}the practice by the seller of a used vehicle of falsely representing the actual mileage of the vehicle to the buyer, by rolling back the odometer to make it appear that the vehicle has lower mileage than it actually does.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/template.MAXIMIZE/menuitem.893c19c9fb974f825c420087dba046a0/?javax.portlet.tpst=4670b93a0b088a006bc1d6b760008a0c_ws_MX&javax.portlet.prp_4670b93a0b088a006bc1d6b760008a0c_viewID=detail_view&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&itemID=3d57f7efc9ab8010VgnVCM1000002c567798RCRD&overrideViewName=Article |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713192206/http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/template.MAXIMIZE/menuitem.893c19c9fb974f825c420087dba046a0/?javax.portlet.tpst=4670b93a0b088a006bc1d6b760008a0c_ws_MX&javax.portlet.prp_4670b93a0b088a006bc1d6b760008a0c_viewID=detail_view&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&itemID=3d57f7efc9ab8010VgnVCM1000002c567798RCRD&overrideViewName=Article |archive-date=2007-07-13 |title=Odometer Fraud {{!}} National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) {{!}} U.S. Department of Transportation |date=2007-07-13 |access-date=2019-03-10}}</ref> * Overpayment * in parapsychology * Paper hanging, see {{slink||Check}} * Passport * Paternity * {{vanchor|Pharmaceutical}}{{snd}}activity that results in false claims to insurers or programs such as Medicare in the United States or equivalent state programs for financial gain to a pharmaceutical company.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/fcs_report2006/financial-crimes-report-to-the-public-fiscal-year-2006#Health |publisher=FBI |year=2006 |title=Financial Crimes to the Public Report 2006}}</ref> * {{vanchor|Phone|phone fraud}}, Communication{{snd}}the use of telecommunications products or services with the intention of illegally acquiring money from, or failing to pay, a telecommunication company or its customers.<ref>{{cite web|last=CFCA|title=CFCA's 2011 Worldwide Telecom Fraud Survey|url=https://m.usa-numbers.com/files/cfcas_2011_worldwide_telecom_fraud_survey.pdf|publisher=CFCA|access-date=5 December 2011}}</ref> * Premium diversion, see {{slink||Insurance}} * Price fixing * Push payment fraud * {{vanchor|Quackery}}{{snd}}the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices.<ref>{{cite web |last=Barrett |first=Stephen |date=2009-01-17 |title=Quackery: how should it be defined? |website=quackwatch.org |url=http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/quackdef.html |access-date=2013-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225154248/http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/quackdef.html |archive-date=2009-02-25 |url-status=live}}</ref> * Racketeering * Recruitment fraud, see {{slink||Employment}} * Return * {{vanchor|Romance|romance}} * Intellectual property * Scientific * {{vanchor|Securities}} * Shill bidding * Spyware * Tailgating, see {{slink||Front running}} * Tax * Tech support * Telemarketing{{snd}}fraudulent selling conducted over the telephone. The term is also used for {{slink||phone fraud}} not involving selling.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/694461/19950403_varney_telemarketing_rule.pdf |title=Prepared Remarks of Federal Trade Commissioner Christine A. Varney. |last=Varney |first=Christine |date=3 March 1998 |website=FTC|access-date=30 March 2016}}</ref> * Slamming * Tobashi scheme * {{vanchor|Transfer}}{{snd}}an attempt to avoid debt by transferring money to another person or company, particularly with regard to insolvent debtors.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Davies |first1=Kevin |last2=Roy |first2=Julian |title=Fraud in the Canadian courts: An unwarranted expansion of the scope of the criminal sanction|journal=Canadian Business Law Journal |date=1998 |volume=30 |page=210 |url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/canadbus30&div=18 |access-date=10 September 2017}}</ref> * Visa * Vomit * Voter, vote rigging, see {{slink||Electoral}} * Weight fraud * Welfare{{snd}} illegal abuse of a state welfare system by knowingly withholding or giving false information in order to obtain more funds than would otherwise be allocated.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} * White-collar crime * Wine * Workmen's compensation, see {{slink||Insurance}}

==See also== {{portal|Law}}

* Fraud Advisory Panel * Loss prevention * National Fraud Intelligence Bureau * Serious Fraud Office (United Kingdom) * Theft of services * Whistleblower

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * Edward J. Balleisen ''Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff''. {{ISBN|978-0-691-16455-7}} (2017). Princeton University Press. * Fred Cohen ''Frauds, Spies, and Lies – and How to Defeat Them''. {{ISBN|1-878109-36-7}} (2006). ASP Press. * Green, Stuart P. ''Lying, Cheating, and Stealing: A Moral Theory of White Collar Crime''. Oxford University Press, 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-19-922580-4}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060213205107/http://www.wcl.american.edu/journal/lawrev/48/48-4.cfm Review Fraud – Alex Copola] Podgor, Ellen S. ''Criminal Fraud'', (1999) Vol, 48, No. 4 American Law Review 1. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070614010757/http://www.acpo.police.uk/asp/policies/Data/Fraud%20in%20the%20UK.pdf The Nature, Extent and Economic Impact of Fraud in the UK. February, 2007.] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130529110432/http://www.dilloninvestigates.com/index_files/Page390.htm ''The Fraudsters – How Con Artists Steal Your Money'']. {{ISBN|978-1-903582-82-4}} by Eamon Dillon, published September 2008 by Merlin Publishing * Zhang, Yingyu. ''[https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-book-of-swindles/9780231178631 The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection]''. Columbia University Press, 2017. {{ISBN|978-0-231-17863-1}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Fraud}} {{Wikiquote|Fraud}} * {{Wiktionary-inline|Fraud}}

Category:Fraud Fraud