Fraud is a type of theft that has all its characteristics. Professionals know how to prove fraud in court, but even for them it is extremely difficult. Therefore, it is better to exercise caution so as not to get into an unpleasant situation. But to be theoretically savvy is not out of place. It makes sense to first familiarize yourself with the concept and varieties of theft. Theft means illegal unlawful seizure of another's property in favor of the offender or third parties, committed in a mercenary manner with damage to the owner of this property.
Theft
The object of theft is the relationship in society in the field of property. Since the offender took possession of the property illegally, he does not have any rights to use or dispose of him, respectively, the owner remains the rightful owner.
The subject of theft is some kind of someone else's property, it is always a material good that has monetary value, money, documents. Interestingly, the theft of credit cards, savings books, invoices, checks, keys to safes is not considered theft , since these items only provide the right to receive material wealth, but they themselves have no value. The court will qualify these actions as preparation for theft.
The concept of theft covers such types of crimes as theft, fraud, embezzlement and embezzlement, robbery and robbery, extortion.
Concept of fraud
The new wording of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation gives a characteristic of fraud, discloses its features, corpus delicti and punishment for its various types. The article will discuss the specifics of this crime, the punishment that it provides, as well as the mechanism for collecting evidence. During the preparation of the evidence base, one must be careful, fraudsters will immediately notice the surveillance and begin to cover up traces, in which case it will be almost impossible to restore the rights of the victim.
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation characterizes fraud as a crime, the purpose of which is to steal someone else’s property or the right to it fraudulently or through abuse of trust. The severity of the punishment will depend on how investigators prove the fraud and qualify it. It can be in the form of a fine, compulsory or corrective labor, restriction of liberty, forced labor, arrest, imprisonment are also possible. Each subsequent part of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation considers a more serious crime and heavier punishments for them.
Punishment for various forms of fraud
The easiest punishment is provided for the person who committed the fraud alone without significant damage to the victim.
The next most serious type of fraud is fraud committed by a group of persons in a preliminary conspiracy with significant damage to the citizen. On how to prove a conspiracy in fraud, we will discuss below.
Part three deals with fraud committed by an official using a large-scale official position.
Part Four reveals the concept of fraud committed by an organized group or on a particularly large scale, which entailed the loss of a person’s right to a dwelling. It is important to respond to the situation in a timely manner, the victims realize too late that they were deceived and, having lost precious time, begin to think how to now prove fraud.
Part five - the punishment for fraud associated with the deliberate non-fulfillment of obligations under the contract in entrepreneurial activity, if this has caused significant damage. Significant damage means more than ten thousand rubles.
An even more serious crime is fraud associated with the deliberate non-fulfillment of obligations under a contract in entrepreneurial activity, committed on a large scale. Large size should be understood as damage in the amount of at least three million rubles.
Fraud associated with the deliberate failure to fulfill obligations under a contract in entrepreneurial activity, committed on a particularly large scale, involves damage of twelve million rubles.
A distinctive feature of fraud is a way to seize someone else's property - this is a fraud and abuse of the victim's trust. Acting carefully, fraudsters mislead the owner, not showing their true intentions, and the deceived victim transfers them property or makes it possible to acquire the right to it.
Deception and breach of trust
In order to have an idea of how to prove fraud, you need to know about two of its components, which in court must be associated with the damage of the victim:
- Deception - the provision of false information for the further implementation of mercenary plans; concealment of significant transaction conditions; provision of fictitious documents.
- Abuse of trust implies that the transaction was concluded on the basis of trust between friends, relatives, and also that the fraudster was not going to fulfill his obligations under the contract in advance.
Law enforcement officers know how to prove fraud, for this they need to collect a number of qualitative evidence. But together with the investigator, the victim must also take an active part in collecting evidence.
Subjective side
A competent person from the age of 16 years may be considered the subject of fraud.
A mandatory attribute of fraud is direct, specific intent, which must be proved in court. As a rule, the offender is preparing to commit fraud, making fake title documents, licenses, certificates, hiding real information about the registration of the enterprise, the presence of debts. These facts in court will indicate that the fraudster did not have the opportunity in advance and did not intend to fulfill his obligations under the contract, which means he had direct intent. Since it’s not easy to prove fraud, it’s best to contact a professional for help.
Objective side
The object of fraud is identical to the object of theft - these are relations in the field of material resources that are taking shape in society.
Only a capable citizen who can freely transfer his property or right to it to a criminal can be considered a victim of fraud. If a legally incapable person was tricked, then such a crime would be qualified as theft.
Fraud is considered perfect when the property entered the criminal possession of the criminal at the moment when he got the opportunity to use and dispose of it, and on the basis of an official document. If we are talking about real estate, this will be the moment of registration of the property of the criminal or the adoption of another document by a misled person, which gave the criminal grounds for possession, use or disposal of this property.
Conspiracy Fraud
If fraud is committed by a group of persons, then a qualifying sign will be a preliminary conspiracy. Since investigators prove the fact of fraud in conspiracy on their own, it is enough for the average person to have a general concept of conspiracy. This is a joint offense conceived by several persons in advance. If the criminals decided on a joint crime already at the time of its commission, then the sign of preliminary conspiracy does not apply.
Most often, when there is a preliminary conspiracy, the criminals prepare for the crime. There are many stories about what scammers can do with a passport: forge a contract of sale, gift of property, apply for a loan. Then it’s very difficult to turn events back and punish criminals. When processing any documents, transactions, especially in non-state structures, be very attentive to your documents.
Owners of any property transactions must be done especially carefully, this is fertile ground for fraudsters, and it is more difficult to prove real estate fraud over time. They often act according to the scheme: one is looking for a property and organizing a crime, the second acts as a realtor, and the third deals with the legal side of the transaction. Having seized another's property, fraudsters get rid of it and hide even before the victim realized that she was deceived. You need to immediately contact law enforcement agencies, as investigators prove professional fraud and tell you what actions to take in order to collect evidence and not scare criminals.
If you become a victim of scammers
So how do you prove fraud? Consider an example of a situation where a fraudster has borrowed a sum of money and does not repay at the agreed time. The very first way to protect yourself by lending money is to take a receipt. But if we are talking about loved ones, then in our society it is considered disrespectful and indecent to demand such documents, they supposedly testify to distrust, but this is precisely what scammers use. Without any material evidence of the transfer of money in debt, it is practically impossible to prove this. But worth a try. The following methods are suitable for proving all types of fraud:
- audio recording of the conversation;
- video recording of a conversation in person;
- Correspondence in any messengers.
From audio or video recordings, it should be clearly understood that the fraudster took a certain amount of debt and still has not returned it, so you need to think ahead how to build your conversation.
You must first prepare for a call or meeting: mark the date and time of contact on the record; record incoming and outgoing phone numbers; indicate personal data of phone owners.
The following must be heard in the conversation: amount of debt, date of transfer of money into debt; demand to return money; why the criminal asked for money in debt.
After the end of the conversation, you need to set and voice its duration and end time.
As for correspondence on the Internet, it is enough to print the correspondence with the criminal and attach as evidence in court. If the fraudster begins to refuse his words, the court will send a request about the reality of the correspondence to the social network where it was conducted.
Entrepreneurship and fraud
When it comes to business fraud, a more thorough and professional investigation is required. It is necessary to conduct an audit of the title documents of the fraudster. First of all, the contract is subject to verification, the obligations under which were not fulfilled. It may reflect the significant conditions by which the company secured itself, initially deciding not to fulfill its obligations.
It is also necessary to check the authenticity of the license, the availability of financial capacities for the execution of the contract, the availability of goods or a developed scheme for its delivery.
Contacting law enforcement
Before contacting law enforcement agencies, the victim must attempt an out-of-court settlement of the dispute by sending the debtor a written request for the repayment of the debt or the fulfillment of the obligation, and you must have a notice on hand about this request.
If there is no reaction, you must file an application with the internal affairs bodies. The statement shall indicate: the circumstances of the case; personal data of the suspect; how much time has passed since the expected return of the debt or fulfillment of obligations; please check and qualify the crime. If the debtor reports that he did not steal anything and returns the money later, the case will not be instituted. Then the victim has no choice but to go to court. To prepare for legal proceedings, it is better to use the services of a professional, since it is very laborious and difficult to prepare the necessary package of documents and petitions yourself.
Going to court
The practice of fraud has a huge number of cases won. But it is impossible to make an objective picture of the extent of fraud, since most cases simply do not reach the court due to the lack of evidence or sufficient information about the identity and whereabouts of the offender. It happens that the victim is simply ashamed to admit that he was the victim of a cunning fraudster, and to sign his own hindsight. At the same time, the difficulty is collecting evidence. Since all activities involve communicating with the criminal after the fact of the crime, it is often impossible to collect evidence, because fraudsters disappear without a trace, having realized their malicious intent. Therefore, you need to be extremely careful when committing any actions with material values, so as not to become a victim of fraudsters.