Fraud, in the broadest terms, is a deceit committed for personal gain. Legally the definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is not only a crime, but it is also a civil law violation. The most common type of fraud is defrauding people for their money. On the other hand, there have also been many fraudulent acts committed in art, science, and archaeology.

Criminal law states that fraud is an offense that deliberately deceives someone in order to cause them damage, generally to gain property or services. It can be accomplished via the aid of forged objects and is also known as “theft by deception,” “larceny by fraud and deception,” and “larceny by trick.”

For instance, marriage fraud is the act of getting married for personal gain instead of the desire to enter into a sincere marital relationship and can take many forms. This type of fraud is generally associated with gaining immigration benefits such as a green card. In the United States, this type of marriage fraud garners penalties including $250,000 and 5 years in prison, not to mention deportation and permanently lose the ability to receive future immigration status.

Academic fraud is the falsifying of findings found during research. Intellectual fraud is falsifying of a position that an author or speaker takes or implies within a book or debate. Journalistic fraud is very similar to intellectual fraud, but is the falsifying of journalistic findings.

There are many ways fraud can be committed, such as mail, phone, Internet, or wire. Using the Internet to commit fraud is one of the fastest growing fraud mediums out there. Acts that might constitute criminal fraud include but aren’t limited to: bait and switch, confidence tricks, false advertising, identity theft, and false billing. Others are forgery of documents and signatures, embezzlement, health fraud, and insurance fraud. Those are merely the tip of the iceberg in the long list of frauds.

In addition to being a criminal act, fraud is also a violation of civil law. This is known as a tort. Civil fraud generally involves the act of purposefully making a false representation of a material fact in order to deceive. False representation can include a false statement of fact, knowingly making a promise of future performance when no intent to perform as promised, or a statement of fact with no reasonable basis to make it.

Fraud is a crime no matter what form it takes, and as such, it is punishable with heavy fines and possible jail time.