By region[edit]

Asia[edit]
China[edit]
In China, according to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the Crime of Fraud (诈骗
罪) refers to the "criminal act of deceiving and obtaining public or private property." [16]
According to Article 266 of the Criminal Law:[16]

1. Those who commit fraud involving a "relatively large amount" of public or private
property shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three
years, criminal detention, or injunction control with community correction, and may
additionally or solely be fined.
2. If the amount involved is "large" or there are other serious circumstances, the
offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years
but not more than ten years and shall also be fined.
3. If the amount involved is "particularly large" or there are other particularly serious
circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of over
ten years or life imprisonment and shall also be fined or have their property
confiscated.
According to the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of the Law in
Handling Criminal Cases of Fraud" (关于办理诈骗刑事案件具体应用法律若干问题的解释) issued by
the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate in 2011, for cases of fraud
involving public or private property with a value ranging from 3,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan, from
30,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan, and over 500,000 yuan, they should be respectively deemed as
"relatively large amount," "large amount," and "particularly large amount" as stipulated in Article 266
of the Criminal Law.[17]
India[edit]
In India the criminal laws are enshrined in the Indian Penal Code.[18] It is supplemented by
the Criminal Procedure Code and Indian Evidence Act.
Europe[edit]
United Kingdom[edit]
In 2016 the estimated value lost through fraud in the UK was £193 billion a year. [19]
In January 2018 the Financial Times reported that the value of UK fraud hit a 15-year high of
£2.11bn in 2017, according to a study. The article said that the accountancy firm BDO examined
reported fraud cases worth more than £50,000 and found that the total number rose to 577 in 2017,
compared with 212 in 2003. The study found that the average amount stolen in each incident rose to
£3.66m, up from £1.5m in 2003.[20]
As at November 2017, fraud is the most common criminal offence in the UK according to a study by
Crowe Clark Whitehill, Experian and the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies. [21] The study suggests the
UK loses over £190 billion per year to fraud. £190 billion is more than 9% of the UK's projected GDP
for 2017 ($2,496 (£2,080) billion according to Statistics Times.[citation needed]) The estimate for fraud in the
UK figure is more than the entire GDP of countries such as Romania, Qatar and Hungary. [22]
According to another review by the UK anti-fraud charity Fraud Advisory Panel (FAP), business
fraud accounted for £144bn, while fraud against individuals was estimated at £9.7bn. The FAP has
been particularly critical of the support available from the police to victims of fraud in the UK outside
of London. Although victims of fraud are generally referred to the UK's national fraud and cyber
crime reporting centre, Action Fraud, the FAP found that there was "little chance" that these crime
reports would be followed up with any kind of substantive law enforcement action by UK authorities,
according to the report.[23]