Fraud is a criminal offence and a public prosecution case. Even if the illegal income is returned, criminal responsibility will still be investigated. However, returning the stolen money is a statutory mitigating circumstance and will be criminally punished according to the actual situation. Whoever commits this crime shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also or only be fined; If the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined; If the amount is especially huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or confiscated.
The boundary between fraud and fraud.
Both use deception, and the latter may also obtain property benefits, which are the same; But the subjective purpose, criminal means, the amount of property and the object of infringement are all different. The crime of swindling and cheating is an act aimed at defrauding all kinds of illegal interests, pretending to be a state functionary, carrying out swindling and cheating activities, and damaging the public interests of state organs or the legitimate rights and interests of citizens. It deceives not only property (but not limited to the amount), but also work, position, status, honor and so on. It is a crime of disturbing social management order. Criminals impersonate state functionaries to defraud public and private property, infringe on property rights and damage the normal activities of state organs, and are implicated offenders. Therefore, the crime should be determined according to the main object and main harmfulness of the act, and the punishment should be heavier. If the amount of property defrauded is not large, but the state organs are seriously damaged, it shall be punished as the crime of swindling and cheating; Otherwise, it is defined as fraud. If both objects are seriously violated, they are generally treated as fraud according to the principle of a felony. Two kinds of crimes have been committed independently, and if they are not related to each other, they shall be dealt with according to the principle of combined punishment for several crimes. The specific determination of fraud needs to be handled according to the actual situation involved, especially the sentencing circumstances determined by different fraud amounts are different.
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Legal basis:
Article 266 of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC)
If the crime of fraud defrauds public or private property, and the amount is relatively large, it shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also or only be fined; If the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined; If the amount is especially huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or confiscated. Where there are other provisions in this Law, such provisions shall prevail.
Under any of the following circumstances, if the actor pleads guilty or repents, he may not prosecute or be exempted from criminal punishment in accordance with the provisions of Article 37 of the Criminal Law and Article 142 of the Criminal Procedure Law:
Having a statutory lenient punishment;
(2) Before the verdict is pronounced in the first instance, all the stolen money and compensation money have been returned;
(three) did not participate in the distribution of stolen goods or less stolen goods and not the principal;
(4) the victim understands;
(5) Other circumstances are minor and harmless.
If the fraud suspect returns all the stolen money before filing the case, and the amount of fraud is large, he may not be investigated for criminal responsibility. Fraud refers to the act of defrauding a large amount of public or private property by fabricating facts or concealing the truth for the purpose of illegal possession.