Fraud

In a legal sense, fraud is defined as intentionally misrepresenting facts with the ultimate intention of cheating another person out of something of value, particularly money or property. The use of the term can be traced back to the 14th century. Fraud may involve force of some kind and may include trickery, embezzlement, or larceny. Under the common law system used by the federal government and by all states except Louisiana, four elements must be present for fraud to occur: (1) the perpetrator must make a material false statement, (2) ...