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In the broadest sense, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and is also a civil law violation. Many hoaxes are fraudulent, although those not made for personal gain are not technically frauds. Defrauding people of money is presumably the most common type of fraud , but there have also been many fraudulent "discoveries" in art, archaeology, and science.

Types of fraudulent acts

Fraud can be committed through many methods, including mail, wire, phone, and the internet (computer crime and internet fraud ). The difficulty of checking identity and legitimacy online, and the ease with which hackers can divert browsers to dishonest sites and steal credit card details, the international dimensions of the web and ease with which users can hide their location, all contribute to making internet fraud the fastest growing area of fraud.

Acts which may constitute criminal fraud include:

• bait and switch
• bankruptcy fraud , is a US federal crime that can lead to criminal prosecution under the charge of theft of the goods or services
• benefit fraud , committing fraud to get government benefits
• charlatanism (psychic and occult),
• confidence tricks such as the 419 fraud , Spanish Prisoner, and the shell game
• creation of false companies or "long firms"
• embezzlement, taking money which one has been entrusted with on behalf of another party,
• false advertising
• false billing
• false insurance claims
• forgery of documents or signatures,
• health fraud , selling of products of spurious use, such as quack medicines,
• identity theft
• investment frauds, such as Ponzi schemes and Pyramid schemes
• marriage fraud to obtain immigration benefits INA §204(c)(1)
• securities frauds such as pump and dump
• taking payment for goods sold online, by mail or phone, such as tickets, with no intention of delivering them
• tax fraud , not filing revenues or illegally avoiding taxes (tax evasion), in some countries tax fraud is also prosecuted under false billing or tax forgery

Elements of fraud

Common law fraud has nine elements:

1. a representation of an existing fact;
2. its materiality;
3. its falsity;
4. the speaker's knowledge of its falsity;
5. the speaker's intent that it shall be acted upon by the plaintiff;
6. plaintiff's ignorance of its falsity;
7. plaintiff's reliance on the truth of the representation;
8. plaintiff's right to rely upon it; and
9. consequent damages suffered by plaintiff.

Most jurisdictions in the United States require that each element be pled with particularity and be proved with clear, cogent, and convincing evidence (very probable evidence) to establish a claim of fraud . The measure of damages in fraud cases is to be computed by the "benefit of bargain" rule, which is the difference between the value of the property had it been as represented, and its actual value. Special damages may be allowed if shown proximately caused by defendant's fraud and the damage amounts are proved with specificity.

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