Fraud (ordefrauding orscamming) is acrime in which someone tricks somebody else to get unfair or unlawful gain. Frauds are almost always about money, either directly or indirectly.
Afraudster or afraud is the person who commits the fraud. Something that involves fraud isfraudulent (as inHe tried to pass a fraudulentcheque). Todefraud someone is to commit a fraud against them.
Fraudsters may find people to defraud by phone calls, emails, orwebsites.
Fraud often starts by saying there is a free or low-price item. The fraudster then asks for personal information, such as a homeaddress andbank account numbers. Instead of giving an item in return, the fraudster takes their money. Fraudsters often targetsenior citizens.
Ponzi schemes andpyramid schemes are forms ofinvestment fraud.[1] In 2009 Bernie Madoff was charged for defrauding over 40,800 people in a $64 billion Ponzi scheme.[2] The scheme has been described as "the largest fraudulent scheme in history" and "one of the most prolific financial crimes inAmerican history”.[2]
Some fraudsters useransomware and/orphishing to gather private information from their victims.[3]
