Wire Fraud

Wire fraud is the offense of using electronic communications, such as telephone calls, radio or television transmissions, or, in modern practice, the internet and electronic financial transfers, to carry out a scheme to defraud another person of money or property. Because the offense is defined by the method used to further the fraud rather than by the underlying scheme itself, a single fraudulent enterprise, an investment scam, a fraudulent business proposal or a phishing operation, can generate a separate wire fraud charge for each individual electronic communication made in furtherance of it, which has made wire fraud one of the most broadly applicable and frequently charged offenses against financial deception in jurisdictions that recognize it as a distinct statutory offense. Wire fraud statutes in some legal systems apply extraterritorially or reach conduct with only a minimal domestic connection, since a wire transmission that merely passes through or touches the jurisdiction's communications infrastructure can be sufficient to establish the offense, making it a significant tool against fraud schemes that cross national or state borders. The offense is closely related to mail fraud, sharing the same underlying deception requirement but distinguished by the specific electronic, rather than postal, means used to carry it out.