Theft of someone else’s property or the acquisition of the right to it in an unlawful way - fraud - is very common today. The misguided owner gives the property or right to it to a financial swindler or does not prevent the seizure of property, the acquisition of the right to it. A significant aspect of fraud is the illegal seizure of another's property. A financial scam can be committed against a competent citizen voluntarily transferring property or the right to it. Deceiving a legally incompetent person and receiving property from him is regarded as theft.
What is fraud?
An article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation interprets fraud as theft, possessing the following features:
- seizure of another's property;
- wrongfulness;
- gratuitousness;
- mercenary intent.
The methods of fraud are:
- Cheating. It consists in reporting deliberately false information, in concealing facts or in unlawful acts. Deception may result in the provision of fake goods, the use of untruthful methods in settlements for goods. Deception may occur in any act aimed at misleading the owner of the property. The information communicated or held back by fraud may be of any informational nature (legal facts, news events, quality and price of property, personal information of the offender).
- Abuse of trust consists in the use of a trustful relationship with the owner of property for a deliberate illegal purpose. Confidence or access to information may be determined by the official position of a person, trusting relations of a person with a defrauded person. Abuse of trust can only be subject to a citizen taking upon himself obligations with knowledge and lack of intention to fulfill them (a citizen receiving a loan, advance payment for work, services, prepayment for goods, if he did not intend to repay the debt or fulfill obligations).
The object of fraudulent schemes
The object of fraud is the relationship between citizens in the distribution and redistribution of wealth.
Signs of a fraud:
- The property was illegally taken over by the offender. He began to use it at will.
- The scammer had the opportunity to take possession of someone else's property (in particular, from the moment of legal transfer of ownership of real estate, from the time of conclusion of the contract, from the day of the court decision).
- A person receives another's property or acquires the right to it, not intending to fulfill the obligations assumed. The deceived person is injured. The investigation of fraud should prove that the person had the intention before obtaining someone else's property.
- One property is replaced by another, less valuable.
The concept of the subject of fraud
Subject - a competent citizen of sixteen years of age and older.
The crime consists in mercenary intent. Its presence is evidenced by:
- the person’s deliberate lack of financial ability to fulfill the contract;
- the use by a person of false documents (statements, certificates, passports);
- withholding data on economic debts and encumbrances on property;
- creation of one-day enterprises.
These circumstances do not indicate fraud in themselves. In each individual case, it must be established that the criminal did not intend to fulfill obligations in advance in the commission of the initial actions.
Criminal prosecution of scammers
| Article | Punishment |
| Fine | Mandatory work hours | Correctional labor | Restriction of movement | Forced labor | Arrest | Deprivation of liberty |
| 159.1 | up to one hundred and twenty thousand rubles. or other income for the year | up to three hundred and sixty | up to a year | up to 2 years | up to four months | up to two years |
| 159.2 | up to three hundred thousand rubles. or other income for two years | up to four hundred and eighty | up to 2 years | up to a year | up to 5 years | - | up to five years |
| 159.3 | from one hundred to five hundred thousand rubles. or other income time period from a year to three | - | up to 2 years | up to six years old |
| 159.4 | - | up to ten years with a cash payment in the amount of up to one million or other income for a time period of up to three years or without it and with restriction of freedom for a period of up to two years or without it |
| 159.5 | up to three hundred thousand rubles. or other income for two years | up to four hundred and eighty | up to 2 years | - | up to 5 years | - | up to five years |
| 159.6 | from one hundred to five hundred thousand rubles. or other income time period from a year to three | - | up to six years old |
| 159.7 | - | up to ten years with a cash payment in the amount of up to one million or other income for a time period of up to three years or without it and with restriction of freedom for a period of up to two years or without it |
How to determine the amount of damage?
Significant damage is considered to be damage in the amount of more than ten thousand rubles.
A large amount of fraud is recognized as the cost of ownership of more than three million rubles.
A particularly large amount is considered the cost of ownership of more than twelve million rubles. Especially large-scale fraud applies to cases of deliberate failure to fulfill obligations in business.
Qualification of fraudulent schemes
Qualified types of criminal acts are regulated by Art. 159 of the Criminal Code with comments:
- By preliminary conspiracy, a group of people is a criminal act committed by two or more citizens. They had to agree in advance on an illegal financial act.
- The significance of the economic damage caused by the crime to the citizen is evidenced by the size of the financial consequences for both the injured individual and the family.
- Particularly qualified fraudulent acts are acts committed by a citizen based on their official level, as well as on a large scale. Officials should be understood as employees of commercial and government agencies holding certain posts and having access to classified information (financial reporting data, personal information of individuals).
- Large-scale fraud is the seizure of another's property in the amount of more than two hundred and fifty thousand rubles.
- An organized group refers to several citizens who have previously conspired to commit crimes. The criminal group is distinguished by the fact that its structure includes a leader, a permanent structure, there is a distribution of roles between all participants.
- A particularly qualified fraudulent act is an unlawful act that entailed the deprivation of a citizen's living quarters. The basis for qualification is the loss of the victim's right to housing. The act should be considered as a set of actions consisting in the direct deprivation of immovable property (apartment, house) of the victims.
Forgery of documents
A crime committed using a falsified document granting rights or exempting from obligations is considered as fraud (Article 159). There are cases when a swindler could not use the document. According to judicial practice on fraud, the offense is recognized as preparatory action for the crime.
Fraud using a forged document made by another person (passport, financial statement) is fully determined by the prescribed corpus delicti of art. 159 of the Criminal Code. Many lawyers made comments on this issue. All of them claim that in this case additional qualifications are not required.
The act of a person engaged in illegal business through the manufacture and sale of counterfeit goods, deceiving consumers of purchased products that determine its value, determines the crime.
Theft of bearer securities is not a financial scam. This is interpreted as theft of another's property, but not fraud.
Actions aimed at the unlawful receipt of social payments and benefits when using non-personal or other documents are considered fraud in calculating payments according to the Criminal Code.
Personal Data Fraud
How fraud qualifies a citizen’s appeal in his favor of money in bank accounts committed free of charge by fraud or breach of trust (conclusion of a loan loan agreement under the condition of intentional non-repayment of credit funds and interest). This also includes common bank card fraud.
Payments in the country are made by depositing cash and cashless funds. The money available in bank accounts can be used as a means of payment. From the moment money arrives at the individual’s bank account in a credit institution, it gains the legal right to manage the money at will, make settlements without transferring funds from its account to which it was credited due to fraud with bank cards. In these cases, the scam should be considered conducted from the time this money was received to the account of the person who withdrew the funds from the account of their owner.
If the described actions coincide with the unlawful introduction into someone else’s computer system or with the creation of programs that modify the personal data of customers, making changes to existing software applications and causing major financial losses, then criminal acts are subject to qualification as fraud on a particularly large scale in the field of information technology.
This is not a scam
If the theft of other people's financial assets using a stolen or fake bank (credit or debit) card is carried out through a payment terminal without the participation of a banking specialist (employee of a credit organization), then there is no corpus delicti. "Fraud", Art. 159 of the Criminal Code in this case does not apply. This is regarded as theft of property in cash.
The theft of other people's money in the bank accounts of private and corporate clients by using a stolen or fake credit or debit card is considered fraud.
Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is used in cases where a swindler, through fraud or breach of trust, mislead a commercial bank employee.
The manufacture of fraudulent bank cards by a fraudster for use in order to commit financial crimes should be interpreted in accordance with the law as preparation for fraud. If a person used a stolen or fake bank (credit or debit) card, but due to circumstances beyond his control, he was unable to turn his money in his favor, the offense, depending on the method of commission, should be considered an attempted theft or fraud.
In the event that the offender made for the purpose of sale fake bank (credit or debit) cards, as well as other documents (not securities) that were obviously not intended for use, but due to insurmountable circumstances, had no opportunity to sell them, the deed should be considered as intention to commit fraud, if circumstances indicate that the actions were aimed at implementing fraudulent schemes.
An article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation says that since lottery tickets are not securities, their falsification for the purpose of selling or illegally receiving monetary rewards can be qualified as preparation for fraud. In the case of the sale of a fake lottery form or the appropriation of a prize in cash, the deed should be interpreted as fraud.
Damage without fraud
Damage to property should be distinguished from fraudulent schemes. It can also be committed fraudulently, but without signs of fraud. Damage does not carry such aggregate symptoms: unlawfulness, mercenary intent, gratuitous and final seizure of another's property in favor of a scammer or other persons. Determining whether the owner of the property or other interested person incurs material damage or financial damage in the form of lost profit (unearned income) that a citizen could have received under ordinary conditions of life without violating his legal rights by deceit or breach of trust, solves the issue of corpus delicti.
If a fraud is used by an individual to gain access to another's property, during the seizure of which his actions are revealed by the owner of this property, however, the criminal, realizing this, continues to take property by force or to hold it against the will of the owner, the actions should be considered as robbery.