Fraud and Financial Crime

What is the offence of fraud?

Fraud is a serious and complex crime, which can lead to long investigations and severe penalties if you are found guilty.
Fraud is defined as the act of gaining a dishonest advantage, often financial, over another person. It is one of the most commonly experienced crimes in England and Wales, with the CPS prosecuting thousands of cases each year.

If you have been accused of or are being investigated for any type of fraud offence and are worrying about how best to defend yourself, we have a team of experts at your disposal at Sahota & Sahota. They are on hand whenever you need them to give you advice about everything, from your rights during police interviews to the potential consequences of fraud offences.

Some of the most common types of fraud are:

Bank fraud
Bank fraud is the term used for several different types of fraud, and involves the use of illegal means to obtain money, property or assets belonging to a bank, its clients and customers. This type of offence includes:

• Bank account fraud
• Cheque fraud
• Credit card fraud
• Cybercrime bank fraud
• False accounting

Sentencing for bank fraud will depend on the severity of the offence, but is likely to involve imprisonment and maybe a fine.

The first thing to do if you find you are being investigated for bank fraud is to contact a fraud solicitor without delay. The expert team at Sahota & Sahota will be able to provide you with advice on what to say and what not to say during police interview, and guide you through the legal implications of any charges that arise.

Using a specialist fraud solicitor will also give you the best chance of a positive outcome should your case come to court, or even get your case dismissed before reaching that stage.

Tax fraud
When you commit tax fraud it means that you have provided HMRC with incorrect tax information in order to benefit financially. Tax fraud can involve:

• Submitting a false tax return
• Smuggling taxable goods into the country
• Claiming tax relief or repayments that you are not entitled to
• Hiding taxable income or assets offshore
• Charging VAT but then failing to pass the funds on to HMRC

HMRC take tax fraud very seriously, and being investigated for potential fraud can be extremely stressful. That is why having expert help if you are involved in a disagreement about tax is vital, and you should seek it at the earliest opportunity.

Our specialist fraud solicitors understand how HMRC operates. They will examine any information you need to submit to HMRC, take you through the appeal process step-by-step and provide you with the right advice for the best outcome.

Mortgage fraud

The act of committing mortgage fraud is when an individual or a number of individuals defraud a financial institution or private lender through the mortgage process. As well as the borrower, those involved can include surveyors, mortgage brokers, financial advisors, accountants, estate agents, property developers, property investors and solicitors.

Typically, there are two types of mortgage fraud; ‘false representation’, which is when someone makes false statements for gain that may cause harm to others, and ‘failing to disclose information’. This is when you fail to disclose all relevant information when filling out a mortgage loan application for gain or to cause loss to another.

Many and complex financial transactions are involved in mortgage fraud, and the specialist fraud solicitors at Sahota & Sahota have the knowledge and expertise required to come to your aid should you be accused of mortgage fraud.

Money laundering

Money laundering is the way in which money that has been made from illegal activities is converted into assets which seem to have a legitimate origin. Most often, this is by being passed through a number of legitimate businesses, so that it can be retained or recycled into further criminal activities.

The act usually concerns large amounts of ‘dirty’ money generated by criminal activities such as fraud, drug trafficking or terrorist funding. It is laundered often by being passed through a number of legitimate businesses, which makes legitimate businesses a target.

Money laundering can be put into two categories:

• Those who commit crimes then launder the proceeds of those crimes
• Those whose only criminal involvement is laundering the proceeds of the crimes committed by others

If you or your business is under investigation for money laundering it can have severe consequences, not only for you but for your family and friends if prosecutors believe they should have known that income may have come from illegitimate activities.

To help protect all involved you are advised to talk to one of Sahota & Sahota’s specialist fraud solicitors without delay.

If you have been accused of or are being investigated for any type of fraud, contact the fraud solicitors at Sahota & Sahota as soon as possible. We have a team of highly skilled professionals who specialise in the defence of all types of serious fraud and financial crime.