Bank Fraud

Bank fraud covers a broad spectrum of conduct and therefore it is a commonly prosecuted federal offense. Due to this, many federal prosecutors prosecute a broad array of banking and financial institution related offenses through bank fraud charges.

There are many types of fraudulent activities that are prosecuted under bank fraud. According to the criminal defense attorneys that we interviewed. The most common fraudulent White Collar Crimes defended over the last 5 years are as follows:

This refers to a check that has been maliciously or materially and maliciously tampered with or altered to affect a fraud. Most often, either the amount of the check or the name of the payee is changed.

This refers to an illegal transaction that is committed by using an ATM, including skimming card information and fraudulent deposits.

This refers to a criminal act that involve making the unlawful use of checks to acquire illegally or borrow funds that do not exist within the account-holder’s legal ownership or the account balance.

Credit card fraud is a term that is used for fraud and theft committed using a credit card or any similar payment mechanism as a fraudulent source of funds in a transaction. The purpose may be to obtain unauthorized funds from an account or to obtain goods without paying. This type of fraudulent credit card fraud is an accessory to identity theft according to Criminal Defense Attorney William Ryan Moore in Broward County.

Skimming refers to the process of fraudulently obtaining a victim’s credit card number using basic methods such as photocopying receipts or advanced methods such as using a small electronic device called a skimmer.

This type of fraud occurs when the information on a victim’s debit card is stolen and used to obtain funds from their account without authorization.

Also known as forgery, this type of fraud entails using a victim’s signature to issue checks from a bank. Other cases involve the use of completely fake checks that have been manufactured by the perpetrator themselves.

Also called mortgage fraud, this crime is perpetrated when the information on a mortgage loan application is materially misrepresented or omitted altogether either to obtain a loan, or to obtain a larger loan than what would have been obtained, if lender or borrower was aware of the truth cautions the criminal lawyers of WilliamMPA.

For every count of bank fraud that a perpetrator is convicted for, they are punishable by up to 30 years in federal prison, a $1,000,000.00 fine, or both. Prosecutors are free to charge a person with multiple counts of bank fraud for every instance of alleged criminal conduct. What this means is that, a person may be charged with one count of bank fraud for every purchase made on a fraudulently obtained credit card, even though the credit card was being used as part of one on-going scheme. A single count of bank fraud carries the possibility of up to 30 years in federal prison.