Fraud

In legal terms, fraud is the purposeful use of deceit in order to get an unfair or illegal benefit, or to cheat a victim out of their legal rights. Fraud may be a violation of civil law (for example, a victim of fraud may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compensation) or criminal law (for example, a fraud perpetrator may be prosecuted and imprisoned by governmental authorities), or it may cause no loss of money, property, or legal right but may still be an element of another civil or criminal wrong. The perpetrator of mortgage fraud may try to qualify for a mortgage by making false statements in order to gain approval for the loan, which is an example of mortgage fraud. The purpose of fraud may be financial gain or other benefits, such as obtaining a passport, travel document, or driver's licence.

A hoax is an unique term that refers to the intentional deception of another individual without the purpose of financially benefiting from the deception or of materially harming or depriving the victim.

In places that follow common law, fraud is categorised as a tort, which is a civil wrong. Although the precise definitions of fraud and the requirements for proving it vary from one jurisdiction to the next, the essential elements of fraud as a tort are generally the intentional misrepresentation or concealment of an important fact upon which the victim is meant to rely, and on which the victim actually does rely, to the detriment of the victim. It is often believed that it is difficult to prove fraud in a court of law since the desire to deceive is the central component that is called into question. As a result of this, "a larger evidentiary burden than other civil claims" is associated with the task of establishing fraud. This issue is compounded by the fact that certain countries require the victim to show the existence of fraud by presenting proof that is unequivocal and unmistakable.

Remedies for fraud may include retraction (also known as reversal) of an agreement or transaction that was fraudulently acquired, the recovery of a monetary award to compensate for the loss caused, punitive damages to punish or discourage the misbehaviour, and maybe other types of compensation as well.

In situations in which a contract was obtained by fraudulent means, fraud may be used as a defence in a civil action brought for breach of contract or particular performance of the contract. In a similar vein, fraud may provide the ground upon which a court may use its equitable jurisdiction.