A bank fraud accusation is extremely serious. Generally, the crime of bank fraud occurs anytime a person uses fraudulent means to obtain something of value from a financial institution or users of that institution. Bank fraud is extremely broad, covering numerous forms of fraudulent behavior. Because bank fraud is so broad, often times the crimes overlap with each other. For example, if a person produced a fake passport they have committed forgery. If that person then attempts to use that passport, they may also have just committed identity theft. With this large overlap, state and federal laws often intertwine. Just considering Arizona bank fraud law, you will face criminal charges based on how the fraud is alleged to have been committed. It is therefore important to understand the various forms and ways bank fraud is committed.

Forgery or Counterfeit Documents

Forgery is the crime of making or altering a document falsely and fraudulently. The most common example of forgery is when a person without another person’s consent, impersonates that other person’s signature on a document. So yes, you did commit forgery when you wrote a parents’ names on your permission slip for a school field trip. Fortunately, the statute of limitations has likely ran out on that crime. However, if more recently you have been accused of violating A.R.S. § 13-2002 then it is important to understand its elements and the ramifications. Arizona revised statute § 13-2002 states a person commits forgery if they intend to defraud and that person:

• Falsely makes, completes or alters a written instrument;
• Knowingly possesses a forged instrument; or
• Offers or presents, whether accepted or not, a forged instrument or one that contains false information.

If a person has five or more instruments that were forged, then a presumption arises that the person intended to defraud. This is especially important because the state would no longer need to prove the intent element of the statute. The intent element is hard to prove and allows attorneys to have more wiggle room in making a defense. If unable to make a sufficient defense and convicted, a forgery charge is a class 4 felony unless the forged instrument is used in connection with a property that is used to facilitate smuggling. In that instance the penalty rises to a class 3 felony.

Check Fraud

Check fraud has some overlap with forgery. It refers to any efforts to obtain funds fraudulently by using a paper or digital check. This can include but is not limited to a person writing a check for funds they did not have on their own account (paperhanging), forging a check with someone else’s name, creating a completely fake check, or stealing and using someone else’s checkbook. The method the person used in perpetrating the fraud will determine which statute applies to that person’s case. For example, for the crime of paperhanging the applicable statute is A.R.S. § 13-1807. The statute states it is forbidden to issue or pass a check that a person knows does not have sufficient funds in or deposits it with a financial institution for the payment in full of the check. Possible defenses for this sort of case include the check being postdated and sufficient funds are available on deposit on a later date. Or, if the insufficiency of funds came from an adjustment to the person’s account by the financial institution without notice to that person. If unable to secure a successful defense, issuing a bad check is a class 1 misdemeanor. However, if the check is in an amount of $5,000 or more, then the person may receive a class 6 felony unless the person pays the full amount of the check and any accruing interest within 60 days of receiving notice.

Credit Card Fraud

At this point you might have recognized a theme. No matter the fraudulent action, if it is perpetrated on or using a financial institute then voila, “bank fraud.” Continuing, after check fraud, credit card fraud is the next most common way bank fraud is committed. In Arizona and under A.R.S. § 13-2105, a person commits credit card fraud in two ways:

1. When a person intends to defraud and uses a credit card that he knows is forged, expired, cancelled, or revoked to obtain anything of value; or
2. Without consent of the cardholder, acts as if he is the true cardholder and attempts to obtain or actually obtains anything of value regardless of if the credit card is actually used.

The penalty for committing credit card fraud will depend on the value of what was attempted to be obtained. For anything less than $250, it is a class 1 misdemeanor. If the value were $250 or more but less than $1,000 in any consecutive six-month period, the person would receive a class 6 felony. When the value is $1,000 or more in any six-month period then the punishment becomes a class 5 felony with up to 2.5 years in prison.

Embezzlement

The term embezzlement probably makes you think of Wall Street, corporate espionage, and extravagant amounts of stolen money. However, in Arizona, embezzlement has a much broader application. Arizona law and A.R.S. § 13-1802 says any kind of property may be embezzled; so long as the person entrusted to monitor, manage, or protect that property, steals all or part of it for their own personal gain. An easy example that demonstrates this sort of behavior occurs with a bank teller or store cashier. If the employee takes the deposits or refunds for himself, then they have committed embezzlement. The potential penalty that the defendant may face depends on how much is embezzled. At the lowest penalty, when someone embezzles less than $1,000, the person can receive a class 1 misdemeanor. As the amount embezzled grows, so do the punishments. The punishment climaxes at a Class 2 felony, carrying up to 12.5 years in prison for when a person embezzles $25,000 or more.

Wire Fraud

This type of bank fraud includes any case involving wire transfers or the internet. Often the perpetrator will acquire the victim’s financial account username and password and then will wire funds to themselves. More frequently however, the perpetrator bamboozles the victim into sending the funds. These scams are becoming progressively more popular. Most people have received at least one phone call claiming that they need to urgently send funds somewhere or an email stating a Nigerian Prince would like to share his royal fortune (as bewildering as is the scam, it is even more incredible that it still makes over $700,000 a year.) These calls are all likely wire fraud attempts.

Mortgage Fraud

Committing mortgage fraud is a broad crime. Under A.R.S. § 13-2320, a person commits mortgage fraud if the person has intent to defraud and:

1. Knowingly makes a deliberate misstatement, misrepresentation, or material omission during the mortgage lending process that is relied on by any party to the process;

2. Knowingly uses or facilitates the use of any deliberate misstatement, misrepresentation, or material omission during the mortgage lending process that is relied on by any party to the lending process;

3. Receives any proceeds or other monies in connection with a residential mortgage loan that the person knows resulted from a deliberate misstatement, misrepresentation, or material omission during the mortgage lending process; or

4. Files or causes to be filed with the county recorder any mortgage loan document that the person knows to contain a deliberate misstatement, misrepresentation, or material omission.

A simplistic example, the fraud occurs when you make an intentional misstatement on your mortgage loan application that results in you receiving a larger loan than you should have. While the crime probably does not sound too serious, depending on the circumstances of the fraud you could receive a class 2 felony, which would place you in prison for up to 12.5 years.

Let Us Help

An accusal of bank fraud can result in a very serious felony conviction that can carry a sentence of incarceration. Fighting a bank fraud charge requires a team of highly experienced white-collar crime lawyers to ensure you receive the best results possible. Let Chandler Criminal Lawyer’s criminal lawyers and their knowledge of Arizona’s bank fraud law guide you through the process. The legal battle ahead will be led by strong representation and diligence.