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What is Online Fraud?
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In
the broadest sense, a Fraud
is a deception made for personal gain. 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.
In criminal law, fraud
is the crime or
offense of deliberately deceiving another in order to
damage them – usually, to obtain property or services
unjustly. Fraud can be accomplished through the aid of
forged objects. In the criminal law of common law
jurisdictions it may be called "theft by
deception," "larceny by trick,"
"larceny by fraud and deception" or something
similar.
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In academia and
science, fraud can refer to academic fraud – the falsifying of
research findings which is a form of scientific misconduct – and
in common use intellectual fraud signifies falsification of a
position taken or implied by an author or speaker, within a book,
controversy or debate, or an idea deceptively presented to hide
known logical weaknesses. Journalistic fraud implies a similar
notion, the falsification of journalistic findings.
Fraud can be committed through many methods, including mail,
wire, phone, and the internet (computer crime and internet fraud).
Fraud, in addition to being a criminal act, is also a type of
civil law violation known as a tort. A tort is a civil wrong for
which the law provides a remedy. A civil fraud typically involves
the act of intentionally making a false representation of a
material fact, with the intent to deceive, which is reasonably
relied upon by another person to that person's detriment.
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