Consumer Fraud

O. C. Ferrell & Linda Ferrell

Fraud is a purposeful, unlawful act to deceive, manipulate, or provide false statements to damage others. In general, fraud is viewed as false communication that conceals or contains a scheme to create a materially false statement or representation. Often, fraud is associated with documents that are transmitted by mail, wire, or through any type of electronic signal to a receiver. Statements that a court determines as false or fictitious or that have the intent to deceive constitute a crime and are subject to a fine or imprisonment or both. In 2005, fraud cost U.S. organizations more than $600 billion annually, and consumers lose more than $30 billion annually from fraud. The U.S. Department of Justice has identified major categories of consumer fraud including identity theft and fraud, solicitation of donations for victims of terrorist attacks, Internet fraud, telemarketing fraud, bank fraud, and mortgage scams. Mail and wire fraud is a ...

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