What is bank fraud?

Bank fraud is a federal crime (banks are federally charted). If someone is accused of misusing the bank system, or perpetrating a fraud on the bank, where the bank loses money or someone else loses money through the banking system, the person can be indicted and charged with bank fraud.

Many times, bank fraud consists of other things. It may be a mortgage fraud – there are different terms for it which really mean the same thing.

Most fraud cases in federal court are handled the same way – you have the same loss schedule for the sentencing guidelines, the same type of elements of proof – but bank fraud is simply a term that’s used if somebody has committed some kind of fraud in the money system which effects or involves the use of a federally charted bank.