Fraud is one of the most serious of white-collar crimes because it has the potential to be seriously costly to victims. Fraud can usually be charged at either a state or federal level, causing complexities that require a legal team to determine the seriousness of the crime, as well as any potential penalties.
Some types of fraud include:
- Bank fraud. Those who cash a check that has been falsified or obtain funds by using another person’s identity can be charged with bank fraud.
- Mail or wire fraud. A federal crime since 1872, mail or wire fraud involves using the U.S. Postal Service or financial wire services to conduct illegal business.
- Credit card fraud. While there are many ways to access a person’s credit card number fraudulently, including scanners in place at public ATMs, false telemarketing claims, or bank impersonations, no matter how the number was obtained, once it is used, it is considered credit card fraud.
- Mortgage fraud. Mortgage fraud is committed by creating false sources of funding or making false claims about income on paperwork submitted to obtain a loan for a mortgage.
- Insurance fraud. Forging a signature or using fraudulent information in order to obtain insurance can be considered fraud, although many insurance fraud or medical claims fraud cases are committed accidentally, without malice.
- Securities fraud. If a corporate executive misleads someone else about the company’s stock performance – or reveals confidential stock information that could cause someone to profit by buying or selling that stock, it is considered securities fraud.
- Computer fraud. Computer fraud can be far-reaching, from hacking into a system to fraudulently obtaining personal data, or by infecting a computer system with a virus.
Common computer fraud case was just an experiment
It’s been 30 years since the first computer hack – the anniversary was marked last month with many stories about Robert Tappen Morris, who while a student at Cornell University used an MIT computer to release what he called an experiment – but instead created a worm that infected computers at Ivy League schools across the region, slowing systems to a crawl.Morris’s foray into computer fraud sparked more interest in protective software, and although the cybercrime sector is moving much faster than cybersecurity, there is no denying that Morris’s computer fraud case, which led to a suspended sentence after being the first person in the United States to be convicted of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act passed by Congress in 1986, opened the door for many other issues.
Call a Florida criminal defense attorney
If you’ve committed what is considered a “white-collar” crime such as fraud, learning your rights is one of the most important first steps. Contact an experienced criminal defense attorney like Malcolm Anthony to help you learn more about your fraud case and others like it. Call 904-285-4529 (4LAW).
