The Fraud Act (2006)
The Fraud Act 2006 provides a statutory definition of the criminal offence of fraud specifying three classes - fraud by false representation, fraud by failing to disclose information and fraud by abuse of position.
There are three main areas in the regulations:
To be found guilty under the Fraud Act 2006 a person must act dishonestly, have the intention to make a gain for themselves or another and cause a loss, or risk of loss, or another.
Scams constitute fraud by false representation as the claims they make are either untrue or misleading. The claims are made in order to make a gain (receive money) from others.
The Act makes clear that creating or possessing items for the purpose of use in a fraud is also illegal. Therefore in a mail scam, the creation and possession of the letters and trinkets would be illegal