Many people find it difficult to distinguish between embezzlement and fraud. They both involve dishonest personal gain and fall within the ambit of white collar crime but the differences are significant and important. And both will lead to criminal prosecution.
There are five, key differences between the two white collar crimes offences.
- Fraud involves an act or acts of dishonesty that is done for personal gain. But a person can be guilty of fraud without embezzlement, such as when a person falsely claims to be professionally qualified in order to secure a job.
- Embezzlement is a sub-set of fraud involving theft through fraudulent activity involving a business. In embezzlement cases, the offender has a lawful right to possession of the property but steals or appropriates it through fraudulent activity, such as a business manager in a position of trust who has access to the business bank account and transfers money illegally to his or her own account. A bank teller transferring funds is a common example.
- Fraud does not always involve embezzlement. A fraud can occur outside of a business. So in the previously outlined situation involving a manager with access to a bank account, a fraud may occur without the perpetrator being in a such a position. He or she may seek to obtain financial information by deception, through false pretenses or by making false statements via an email scam or some other type of theft where there is no actual embezzlement.
- Generally fraud offences will…
