In May 2023, members of a Cook County jury returned a conviction in a case involving a Chicago accountant charged with one of the most common types of mail fraud offenses. The 61-year-old accountant reportedly used the personal information of clients who were entitled to tax refunds and credits from the Illinois Department of Revenue; however, an investigation revealed that he pocketed the proceeds.
Filing fraudulent tax returns is one of the most common types of mail fraud offenses in the American criminal justice system. Although its name conjures images of people stealing mail or abusing service, mail fraud is a catch-all term to describe white-collar crimes that involve mail communications. In the aforementioned case, the accountant mailed the bogus tax returns from his office in Chicago. If he had used the Modernized e-File (MeF) system managed by the Illinois Department of Revenue, he would have still been charged with mail fraud.
Mail fraud and wire fraud are offenses that do not necessarily have to involve the post office or a bank wire transfer. Hackers who apply a combination of phishing text messages to steal online banking credentials may be charged with both wire fraud and mail fraud. These offenses are within the purview of the Uniform Fraudulent Transactions Act, which means that they can be prosecuted by state or federal prosecutors.
To learn more about white-collar charges at the state and federal levels, visit The Law Offices of Vadim A. Glozman, a criminal defense firm focused on mail fraud and wire fraud.
