In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law or criminal law, or it may cause no loss of money, property, or legal right but still be an element of another civil or criminal wrong. The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, for example by obtaining a passport, travel document, or driver's license, or mortgage fraud, where the perpetrator may attempt to qualify for a mortgage by way of false statements.
Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a compulsory governmental insurance system, not taxes on individual citizens. Depending on the jurisdiction and the status of the person, those sums may be small, covering only basic needs, or may compensate the lost time proportionally to the previous earned salary.
Bank fraud is the use of potentially illegal means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institution, or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently posing as a bank or other financial institution. In many instances, bank fraud is a criminal offence. While the specific elements of particular banking fraud laws vary depending on jurisdictions, the term bank fraud applies to actions that employ a scheme or artifice, as opposed to bank robbery or theft. For this reason, bank fraud is sometimes considered a white-collar crime.
Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activity crosses interstate or international borders.
Jobcentre Plus is a brand used by the Department for Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom.
The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is an independent agency in the executive branch of the United States government created in 1935 to administer a social insurance program providing retirement benefits to the country's railroad workers.
SEC Rule 10b-5, codified at 17 CFR 240.10b-5, is one of the most important rules targeting securities fraud promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, pursuant to its authority granted under § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The rule prohibits any act or omission resulting in fraud or deceit in connection with the purchase or sale of any security. The issue of insider trading is given further definition in SEC Rule 10b5-1.
The Dominion of Melchizedek (DoM) is a micronation known for facilitating large scale banking fraud in many parts of the world during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Bradley Allen Klippert is an American politician, minister, law enforcement officer, and military officer serving as a member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 8th Legislative District.
The United States EB-5 visa, employment-based fifth preference category or EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program, created in 1990 by the Immigration Act of 1990, provides a method for eligible immigrant investors to become lawful permanent residents—informally known as "green card" holders—by investing substantial capital to finance a business in the United States that will employ at least 10 American workers. Based on the EB‐5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, which was signed into law on March 15, 2022, the minimum investment requirement to qualify under the EB-5 program is $1,050,000. The investment requirement is reduced to $800,000, however, if the investment is made in a qualifying infrastructure project or targeted employment area (TEA).
In California, the Employment Development Department (EDD) is a department of government that administers the Unemployment Insurance (UI), Disability Insurance (DI), and Paid Family Leave (PFL) programs. The department also provides employment service programs and collects the state's labor market information and employment data. The department is one of California's three major taxation agencies, alongside California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and the Franchise Tax Board; in addition to collecting unemployment insurance taxes, the department administers the reporting, collection, and enforcement of the state's personal income taxes.
Bernard Lawrence Madoff was an American fraudster and financier who was the mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion. He was at one time chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange. He advanced the proliferation of electronic trading platforms and the concept of payment for order flow, which has been described as a "legal kickback". Madoff's firm had two basic units: a stock brokerage and an asset management business; the Ponzi scheme was centered in the asset management business.
Pearlasia Gamboa is a Filipino American business woman involved in controversial banking and investments, for which she has been successfully sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and various state agencies. She was connected to the Dominion of Melchizedek, an unrecognized micronation that has been used as a front for fraudulent criminal activity.
Pharmaceutical fraud involves activities that result in false claims to insurers or programs such as Medicare in the United States or equivalent state programs for financial gain to a pharmaceutical company. There are several different schemes used to defraud the health care system which are particular to the pharmaceutical industry. These include: Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Violations, Off Label Marketing, Best Price Fraud, CME Fraud, Medicaid Price Reporting, and Manufactured Compound Drugs. Examples of fraud cases include the GlaxoSmithKline $3 billion settlement, Pfizer $2.3 billion settlement, and Merck $650 million settlement. Damages from fraud can be recovered by use of the False Claims Act, most commonly under the qui tam provisions which rewards an individual for being a "whistleblower", or relator (law).
Suzan Gail LeVine is an American businesswoman and diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein from 2014 to 2017.
Welfare fraud is the act of illegally using state welfare systems by knowingly withholding or giving information to obtain more funds than would otherwise be allocated.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was a furlough scheme announced by Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 20 March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The scheme was announced on 20 March 2020 as providing grants to employers to pay 80% of a staff wage and employment costs each month, up to a total of £2,500 per person per month. The scheme initially ran for three months and was backdated to 1 March.
The economic policy of the Joe Biden administration, colloquially named Bidenomics, is characterized by relief measures and vaccination efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic, investments in infrastructure, and strengthening the safety net, funded by tax increases on higher-income individuals and corporations. Other goals include: increasing the national minimum wage and expanding worker training; narrowing income inequality; expanding access to affordable healthcare; and forgiveness of student loan debt. The March 2021 enactment of the American Rescue Plan to provide relief from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was the first major element of the policy. Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law in November 2021 and contains about $550 billion in additional investment. His Inflation Reduction Act was enacted in August 2022.
Scattered Canary is a Nigerian fraud ring. During the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, the group used business email compromise and, according to the United States Secret Service, "hundreds if not thousands" of money mules to defraud U.S. state unemployment agencies. A security firm that tracked the group said they started in 2009 committing Craigslist scams, then in 2015 began phishing, and in 2016 were committing tax return fraud and credit card fraud, before specializing in ripoffs of government agencies in 2017. The Washington State Employment Security Department said that the group had stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from it in 2020; an estimate of the loss by the Washington State Auditor runs as high as over $600 million. In 2021, investigative journalists reported having accessed a 13-page "how to" guide published by Scattered Canary on defrauding the Texas unemployment system, which paid out over $800 million in fraudulent claims.
