Fraud is a common enough legal term, but a lot of people still ask “What is fraud?“ and what will happen to them if they are found guilty. Fraud can be defined as an act of wrongfully deceiving other people with the intention of making a personal or financial gain from the endeavor. According to the Criminal Code of Canada, anyone who defrauds the public or any person of any property, money, valuable security of any service by any wrongful means is guilty of an offense punishable by a fine, probation or imprisonment or both.
As a property offense, fraud belongs in the same broad category as theft, robbery, arson and extortion. However, it differs from the others in that nothing is taken without the owner’s knowledge and consent and no use of or threat of force or violence is involved. There are many different types of frauds, including credit card fraud, debit card fraud, banking fraud and real estate fraud. In Canada, the maximum penalty for each case of fraud is 14 years of imprisonment.
Section 380 of Canada’s Criminal Code divides fraud into two classes for the purpose of punishment: fraud under $5,000 and fraud over $5,000. The first is treated as a summary conviction offense and the latter as an indictable offense. As you may already know (or may have guessed), indictable offense carries a heavier penalty because of its greater magnitude.
- Fraud under $5,000: If you are charged with and found guilty of committing a fraud under $5,000, you may receive a prison sentence of up to 2 years for each case of fraud depending upon the seriousness of the crime.
- Fraud over $5,000: If you are charged with and found guilty of committing a fraud over $5,000, you may receive a prison sentence of up to 14 years for each case of fraud depending upon the seriousness of the crime.
Paying back the money you have been accused of defrauding doesn’t result in an automatic dismissal of the charges against you. The first thing you should do if you want to avoid a lawsuit is to negotiate with the alleged victim for an out of court settlement.
Once your case goes to trial, the only way to win is to hire an experienced criminal defense lawyer to represent you. As court proceedings are often highly complicated for people outside of the legal profession, you will have very little chance of winning without a lawyer. An experienced lawyer can either get you acquitted or negotiate a reduced sentence for you. If you still wish to ask a lawyer what fraud is and what penalties you will face if found guilty, then call Donna V. Pledge. She is a reputed Toronto criminal defense lawyer with over two decade of experience in defending clients charged with fraud.
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