Fraud encompasses a wide range of
behaviours that are linked by trickery
or deceit with the intention it will
culminate in some form of gain.
It can range from ‘internal’ frauds where a
previously law abiding employee exploits an
opportunity to embezzle monies from his/
her company to ‘external’ frauds perpetrated by
organised criminals on an industrial scale, such
as stealing identities to secure loans. The passage
of the recent Fraud Act 2006 has provided some
clarity to the crime by defining most of the
offences under:
• Fraud by false representation
• Fraud by failing to disclose information
• Fraud by abuse of position
What is clear, however, is that fraud embraces a
broad scope of different crimes. This is illustrated
further by some of the attempts to produce
typologies of the different types of fraud. One of
the most comprehensive has been produced by
Levi (2008a: 391) and is presented in Table 1.
The list identified by Levi could be expanded with
further categories and sub-divisions such is the
breadth and diversity of fraud. However, the terms
of reference for this review are clearly focused
upon fraud against individuals and small firms with
particular reference to the following four:
• Mass marketing scams
• Investment frauds
• Identity fraud
• Fraud affecting small businesses