Being charged with fraud can have a devastating impact on your life, affecting your ability to work, travel and obtain financial assistance in the future.
Fraud is a term used to describe any crime involving the use of deception in order to receive personal or financial gain. Typically, it involves obtaining property from another person or entity by performing a dishonest act (deception), without the person or entity being aware of the act being performed. However, it is important to note that a fraud has only occurred if the dishonest act was performed intentionally or recklessly.
Some commonly related offences include blackmail, embezzlement, false pretences and obtaining credit or money by deception.
Another increasing area of fraud is cyber fraud using internet services and software and can include, but are not limited to, email, chat rooms, websites, message boards, social networks and web or mobile applications. There are many types of cyber fraud, such as email scams, identity theft, phishing applications which often request bank account details and internet auction fraud through sites such as eBay and Gumtree.