Criminal Law & Justice vocabulary · Crimes & Offences

Fraud

Meaning in criminal law & justice, with examples

/frɔːd/nounCore term

In criminal law & justice, fraud means: The crime of deceiving people, for example with false information or fake documents, in order to get money, property or another advantage.

In Turkish: dolandırıcılık, hile, sahtekarlık

How it is used

Usually uncountable: 'commit fraud', 'charged with fraud', 'fraud investigation'. Common types are 'credit card fraud', 'tax fraud', 'insurance fraud' and 'online fraud'. The person is a 'fraudster' (UK) and the adjective is 'fraudulent'.

Example sentences

  1. The accountant was jailed for a fraud worth two million euros.

  2. Banks warn customers about phone fraud every month.

  3. She is accused of fraud and false accounting.

Common collocations

  • commit fraud
  • credit card fraud
  • tax fraud
  • fraud investigation
  • serious fraud

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Crimes & Offences

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level:

This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not legal advice.