Fraud: statute of limitations in criminal cases

Fraud is a private-public crime. This means that swindlers can be punished only upon the application of the victim.

Criminal liability arises under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The statute of limitations for fraud depends on which part of the article the criminal act is classified under.

Failure to comply with the time for filing a claim allows scammers to avoid punishment.

What is fraud

Fraud is a non-violent criminal offense.

The “work” of swindlers is based on deception or abuse of the victim’s trust, as a result of which the victim voluntarily transfers material assets to the criminals.

Most often, scams are carried out in the following areas:

• Real estate.
• Internet, digital payment systems.
• Banking products.
• State budget.
• Insurance.

Deceived citizens, if the criminal is caught, can hope for compensation for damages. It is extremely important to contact law enforcement agencies in a timely manner.

Deadlines for scammers

Fraud is an act that involves the theft of someone else's property through deception or abuse of the victim's trust. The object of this crime can be any valuables, real estate, money, maternity capital, funds received through lending, in the sphere of homeowners' associations, and so on.

You can cheat in various ways. Scams are carried out via the Internet, through personal contact, through third parties, chairmen, authorized entities, and individual organizations, for example, through the issuance of loans, loans, registration of collateral, search for equity holders, and so on. There are many methods of deception to implement fraudulent schemes.

The limitation period for prosecution in cases of fraud will also be determined taking into account the severity of the act in question, which is established by recording the presence or absence of qualifying features.

Depriving a person of his property can have several manifestations. However, when it comes specifically to fraud as a variant of theft, the following warrants of severity are provided for:

• Simple fraud. It assumes the absence of qualifying characteristics and is considered a minor offense. Accordingly, two years to attract a person as a suspect.
• Significant damage or group of persons. The presence of one or both signs determines moderate severity. Six years are given to implement liability measures.
• Use of job position or large size. In this case, the crime will already be considered serious, respectively, the term is ten years.
• An organized group or a particularly large amount of damage. For such a serious act, you are given ten years.
• Intentional failure to fulfill business obligations causing significant damage. An act of moderate gravity and a six-year statute of limitations.
• Failure to fulfill the obligations of the entrepreneur, but in the event of large or especially large damage. Such an act will be considered grave and the sentence will be ten years.

Fraud is not considered to be a particularly serious crime under any circumstances, and accordingly, a punishment of more than ten years in prison cannot be imposed for it.

Statute of limitations for fraud

The limitation period in criminal cases is determined in Art. 78 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The gradation of time when a criminal can be brought to justice is directly proportional to the severity of the crime committed. The degree of severity is determined by Art. 15 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Exemption from liability for a criminal offense occurs:

• not severe after 2 years;
• moderate severity – 6 years;
• serious – 10 years;
• especially serious – 15 years.

The statute of limitations for fraud depends on what part of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is used to qualify the criminal case.

Article 159 of the Criminal Code does not contain the qualification “especially grave”. Possible limitation periods range from 2 to 10 years.

Damage exceeding 1 million rubles is considered severe. A case of moderate severity – damage from 250 thousand rubles. The qualification of the crime is also affected by the presence of conspiracy and deliberate deception in a business transaction.

At what point does the statute of limitations begin to count?

The statute of limitations for fraud can be counted:

• From the moment the illegal act was committed.
• From the moment the victim learned of the fact of fraud against him and filed a corresponding statement with the police.

A fairly common example is real estate fraud. The developer collects money from shareholders and allegedly carries out construction work for some time, after which he simply disappears with the money. In this case, the term for fraud will be calculated from the moment of his disappearance, and not from the moment of signing the DDU.

Types of fraud

In everyday life, crimes that are not fraud are often called fraud. To properly qualify an offense, it must be committed precisely through deception or abuse of trust. In this case, the criminal deliberately misleads the owner of the property by providing him with false information or false documents. As a result, the victim himself transfers the property, without doubting the legality of these actions.

The Criminal Code provides penalties for the following types of fraud:

1. When receiving a loan (Article 159.1).
   In this case, the citizen receives money from the bank by providing unreliable or false information about himself, and does not intend to return it, that is, he commits theft. Important! If the borrower repays the loan, then receiving a loan using false documents cannot be considered fraud. Also note - when you enter into a real estate purchase and sale agreement, cooperate only with trusted agents - so as not to fall into the hands of scammers - realtors https://lexconsult.online/6850-kak-zashhititsya-ot-rieltorov-moshennikov
2. When receiving social benefits and compensation (Article 159.2). To do this, the criminal provides false information or hides facts, which are grounds for stopping payments. One of the recent examples of such fraud is obtaining maternity capital using false birth certificates.
3. Using bank cards (Article 159.3). Fraudsters may use counterfeit or stolen cards, or ask the cardholder to provide the number, expiration date and code on the back of the card, which is an element of data security. Using this information, criminals can easily transfer funds from the card to their account.
4. In the insurance sector (Article 159.5). In this situation, fraudsters provoke the occurrence of an insured event, for example, an accident or car theft.
5. Using computer information. Criminals steal property by transmitting, processing, entering or deleting any data.

Punishment for two more common types of fraud, namely, taking possession of someone else's real estate and deliberate failure to fulfill contractual obligations in the field of business activity, is provided for in Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

If a citizen has become a victim of fraudulent activity, he should contact the police with a statement. After law enforcement agencies have established the fact of fraud and identified the perpetrators, you can file a claim in court, taking into account the statute of limitations.

Corpus delicti

The legislation provides for administrative or criminal liability for beatings under Art. 6.1.1 Code of Administrative Offenses and Articles 116, 116.1 and 117 of the Criminal Code. They have a similar composition with some differences in the object of the crime (Article 116.1 of the Criminal Code) and motives (Article 116 of the Criminal Code).

An object

Beatings violate a person’s right to physical integrity, humiliate him as a person, and damage the health and mental state of the victim.

Objective side

“Battery” refers to blows or other acts of a violent nature directed against the victim and causing pain:

• pinching;
• bites;
• hair pulling;
• twisting of limbs;
• pinching or squeezing of a body part;
• flogging.

Number of beats

Strikes or other actions must be performed multiple times (more than twice). Inflicting one blow cannot be considered beating. This violation (in the absence of harm to health) will be classified as hooliganism under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation or insult.

Consequences of the beating

Additionally, in the case where the beatings did not violate the anatomical integrity of the body tissues, but led to physical pain and ailments, they will also be taken into account in the medical report. The forensic expert will record the victim’s complaints and also indicate that there are no visual signs of damage and the severity of the harm has not been determined.

. Beatings can do without visible consequences or leave superficial damage on the body:

Beatings can do without visible consequences or leave superficial damage on the body:

• abrasions;
• scratches;
• bruising;
• bruises;
• small wounds.

However, they do not lead to temporary or permanent disability. Although, such consequences may not occur immediately, but over time. In this case, the act will be reclassified as “harm to health” under articles of the Criminal Code - 115, 112 or 111, depending on the severity of the injuries. The article discusses the criteria for determining the severity of harm to health.

Subject

Responsibility for battery is borne by an individual aged 16 years or older who was in a sane state at the time of the commission of the crime. Taking into account the changes made to the Criminal Code by Federal Law No. 323 of July 3, 2016, the subject of a crime classified under Art. 116.1 of the Criminal Code, is a close relative of the victim:

• spouse;
• parent (adoptive parent);
• son (daughter), including adopted one;
• sibling;
• grandfather grandmother);
• grandson;
• brother-in-law, matchmaker;
• guardian (trustee);
• person running a joint household.

For amendments to Article 116 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Beatings”, see the following video

Subjective side

An unlawful act is committed with direct intent - causing pain to the victim is the conscious goal of the offender

If the damage was caused unintentionally, it is identified as minor harm to health caused by negligence (you can read about unintentional harm to health). This violation is not subject to criminal punishment

However, the victim can file a civil lawsuit against the perpetrator and recover compensation from him for material and moral damage.

The motives for the beating affect his qualifications. Thus, criminal liability for beatings under Art. 116 of the Criminal Code threatens a criminal who has committed an act from:

1. Hooligan motives.
2. Ideological principles.
3. Hatred towards representatives of a certain: political group;
4. race or nationality;
5. religion;
6. social group.

If the beating occurred out of personal hatred towards the victim, the violation will be qualified under Art. 6.1.1 Code of Administrative Offences.

Non-obvious invalid transactions

Legostaeva Nadezhda claims that there are also non-obvious transactions that could have been carried out due to the ignorance of both parties:

Insignificant:

• The apartment was purchased using maternity capital, but the children were not given shares, and permission from the guardianship authorities was not received.
• A citizen is registered in a psycho-narcotic dispensary, but is not deprived of legal capacity and can actually make real estate transactions - this is one of the few categories of persons who can initiate a transaction on the basis that he has changed his mind about selling an apartment (due to lack of awareness of his actions). One of the most common cases of fraudulent transactions.

Disputable:

• Citizen aged 14 to 18 years, permission to sell has been obtained from the mother, but the consent of the father has not been obtained. Until the father declares a violation, the transaction will be considered valid.
• The title spouse (according to documents, the only one) owner of an apartment acquired during marriage has been divorced for many years, does not communicate, does not make claims for the division of property - the acquisition of such an apartment without the consent of the second spouse is possible, but until the second spouse declares in court the right to your half in the sold real estate.

What kind of fraud is possible in real estate transactions?

• agreements implying the transfer of property rights to real estate, concluded between entrepreneurs and falling under Article 159.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
• raising credit funds for the purchase of housing under a void transaction, provided that the creditor, who is at the same time the buyer of the apartment, was aware of the illegality of the execution of the purchase and sale agreement, which brings fraud under Art. 159.1.

1. Concluding void transactions that, due to restrictions, should not be formalized, but due to the use of forged documents indicating the absence of any encumbrances, are registered, up to the issuance of a certificate of property rights to the new owner.
2. Multi-sales, which are multiple sales of the same piece of real estate with the transaction being completed on the same day, but in different places - the registration authority and at the notary or notaries, if the number of transactions exceeds two. At the same time, a notarized agreement implying independent registration of rights to a real estate property will not have legal force, due to the priority of the transaction formalized in Rosreestr first. A variation is to receive a deposit from several applicants who were attracted by a lower price compared to other offers.
3. Pseudo-improvement of living conditions, which consists of searching for a depressed, needy or poorly informed subject and convincing him of the need to change his place of residence in order to receive a sum of money, pay off debt or improve living conditions in the form of an increase in living space. The result is the relocation of gullible citizens to residential premises, often uninhabitable or remote from infrastructure, with a significantly lower market value and little monetary compensation.
4. False relatives may appear among single citizens who have not left a will for an apartment in relation to which no one has made a claim to inheritance. Having connections in the passport office and taking advantage of the ignorance and passivity of the registration authorities, fraudsters draw up fake documents on kinship, present them and register the property as inheritance.
5. Manipulation of legal illiteracy consists of convincing homeowners that in order for them to receive the services they need (for example, a lifetime annuity or a mortgage on real estate) they should temporarily transfer ownership of the property to a benefactor by signing a contract of sale or deed of gift (such a fraud with real estate is very popular in Russia). Such a need is justified by the imaginary requirements of Russian legislation, even to the point of “quoting” the relevant articles.
6. The sale of “scenery” consists in the fact that the buyer is shown an apartment located at a different address from the one being sold, which has an attractive appearance and location, for which the apartment numbers and even signs with street names along the route are replaced. In fact, the object being sold has a disproportionately lower market value and may be located in a dilapidated building or one intended for demolition.