Fraud & Embezzlement

A couple of methods of larceny are commonly thought of as fraud.  Embezzlement is the misappropriation of property from another while in a position of trust.  This is also sometimes referred to as fraud.  The most common examples of embezzlement occur in the work place when an employee uses the business’ funds for personal reasons.  Even an act as minor as taking funds out of the petty cash account and using those funds for a small personal purchase is considered to be a crime.  Larceny by false promise occurs when a person induces another to give them money or property under the guise that they will perform some sort of action.  An example would be if you offered to paint someone’s house for a certain amount of money and took off after receiving payment and before performing any work.  The key factor in this scenario is the intent to never actually complete the work.  If the reason for the failure to fulfill the promise occurred after the promise was made, then the issue would likely be civil in nature rather than criminal.  Similar to false promise is a larceny by false pretenses.  This occurs when you induce another person to give you money or property while assuming a false set of facts.  For example, if I sell you a necklace made of stainless steel and painted gold while claiming it is made of pure gold, then I am selling you the necklace under false pretenses.  This is a crime.  However, the untrue fact must be a material factor in the purchase.

A larceny can even be committed by acquiring property that a person knows is lost or delivered to him by mistake if he does not take reasonable steps to return the property to its rightful owner.  A very common example is the post office delivering a package to the wrong address and the receiving person simply keeping the package.