Fraud

​Fraud: What Is It, Examples & More

In general, fraud charges involve a person or group of people who perform a wrongful act with the purpose of gaining an undeserved benefit or unfair benefit, coupled with the intent of causing a loss to someone and/or harm to someone.

Examples of fraud can include money laundering, insurance fraud and identity theft, as well as forgery. You might commit fraud if you write a check, but your bank doesn’t have enough money in it to cover the check, and you knew that when you wrote the check.

Insurance Fraud

If someone is an insurance recipient and they use deception or distortion to claim money on thigs such as damages or losses from an insurance provider, then they are taking part in fraudulent activity. One example of committing insurance fraud is a person exaggerating a theft claim with the purpose of trying to get more money by claiming more items were stolen than actually were.

Another example of insurance fraud is staging a murder in order to claim life insurance. Insurance fraud can occur with any type of insurance. This includes health insurance, life insurance and auto insurance to name a few.

Money Laundering

This type of fraud involves transferring money that was obtained via criminal activity. This can include drug trafficking and white collar crimes. The definition of money laundering is very broad. However, federal money laundering laws were created with the goal of taking the ability to profit out of criminal activities.

Money Laundering Examples

Transferring money or receiving money from illegal activities that attempts to conceal the original identity, the source, and the destination of criminally-obtained money is what laundering is defined as. This is one of the reasons why charges are often coupled with other criminal charges. Examples of criminal activities associated with money laundering include:

• Extortion
• Blackmail
• Bribery
• Human trafficking
• Drug trafficking
• Ransom money

When someone receive payment as a result of an illegal activity, then money laundering could be involved. Laundering is a very serious charge that carries serious legal consequences. A person charged with laundering and other crimes could be sent to jail for many years.

Identity Theft

This kind of fraud involves a person stealing another person’s identity. In many cases, they do this to access government resources, credit under a different person’s name and/or to gain access to money. Victims can be responsible for owing money, loans that were taken out or be forced to pay back benefits that have been obtained by the criminal who stole their identity.

There are several types of identity theft. Generally speaking, they fall under six categories. This includes:

• Financial- Using false ID to obtain goods, services and credit.
• Criminal- Posing as someone else when detained for a crime.
• Medical- Using someone else’s ID to obtain medication or medical services.
• Identity Cloning- Assuming someone else’s identity in daily life.
• Child- An adult using a child’s SSN to obtain a driver’s license, credit cards, etc.

Passing A Bad Check

A person that passes a check or issues a check for payment, knowing that there is not enough funds to cover the payment in full, has issued a bad check. Knowingly issuing a bad check can be a crime in Colorado. In order for a person to be convicted of issuing a bad check, they have had to done it knowingly. The prosecution has to prove that the defendant knew what they were doing.

Under Colorado’s Bad Check Law, you could pass a bad check unknowingly, if the check was post-dated. However, using this as a defense doesn’t work if you knew there was not enough money in the bank to cover the check’s amount. This means you could still be convicted of writing out a bad check.

Fraud: Penalties In Colorado Springs

Fraud charges in Colorado can range anywhere from small or petty offenses to serious felonies. The type of property involved and the value of it determines what the charges will be. The relationship between the victim and the defendant also plays a role in what the charges will be. In general, penalties for fraud become more severe as the value associated with the fraud increases.

Defending Fraud Charges In Colorado Springs

Are you facing fraud charges? If so, then you’ll want to contact the Law Office of Jeremy Loew, a Colorado Springs law firm that is dedicated to providing clients with aggressive criminal defense representation.

Give us a call today for a Free Case Review!