Section 380 of the Criminal Code of Canada states that anyone who uses “deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means” to defraud the public or a person of money or property can be charged with fraud. There are two main types of fraud in the Criminal Code: fraud over $5,000 (s.380(1)(a) of the Criminal Code), which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment and fraud under $5,000 (s.380(1)(b) of the Criminal Code), which carries a maximum penalty of 2 years imprisonment.
There is a third type of fraud, manipulating public market (s.380(2) of the Criminal Code), which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.
An important take-away is that, for the Crown to prove fraud and secure a finding of guilt, the Crown does not need to show actual financial losses as long as there is a risk for financial losses. For example, a person misrepresented her income in her mortgage application and have the mortgage approved; however, she could still be found guilty of fraud, even if she never defaulted on her payments.
Author: Jake Shen