Understanding Theft and Fraud: Legal Definitions and Penalties

Posted on Feb 12, 2025 in Law & Jurisprudence

Theft: Legal Definition and Penalties

Article 234 defines theft as taking items, such as furniture, without the owner’s consent and with the intention of financial gain. The legal benefit is the owner’s right to their property.

Penalty: 6-18 months imprisonment if the value of the stolen items exceeds 300.

Key Elements of Theft

  • Seizure of Movable Property: In cases with multiple owners, it would be considered misappropriation.
  • Without the Owner’s Consent: The act must occur without the owner’s permission.
  • Intention of Financial Gain: The action must be intended to achieve a benefit or usefulness.

The value of the stolen item is determined at the time of the theft. The crime is considered complete when the perpetrator can dispose of the stolen goods. If multiple people are involved and share the stolen goods, the crime is complete when one of them possesses their share.

Aggravated Theft (Article 235)

These are situations where the penalty increases to 1-3 years imprisonment:

  1. When the stolen items are of cultural, historical, artistic, or scientific value.
  2. When the stolen items are essential for a public service.
  3. When there are significant damages.
  4. When the victim or their family is put in a dire economic situation or the victim’s personal circumstances (alcohol, mental problems, etc.) are abused.

Scam: Legal Definition and Penalties

Article 248.1 defines fraud as committing deception for profit, using deception to cause another person to act to their own detriment or the detriment of another. The protected asset is the patrimony.

Requirements for Fraud

  1. Deceptive conduct
  2. Deception before or during the act
  3. Deception sufficient to cause error in the victim
  4. Essential error resulting in the victim’s inaccurate disposition of assets
  5. Act of asset disposition, distorting the victim’s reality
  6. Damage: If there is no damage, there is no crime.
  7. Causality between deception and asset transfer
  8. Intention of financial gain

Penalty: Article 249 states that those convicted of fraud will be punished by imprisonment for 6 months to 4 years. If the amount defrauded exceeds 50,000, the penalty may be higher. The sentence will consider the amount defrauded, the economic damage, the relationship between the fraudster and the victim, and the means used.

Aggravated Fraud (Article 250)

Article 250.1 provides for aggravated fraud in the following situations:

  1. Fraud involving things of first necessity.
  2. Simulation is performed with employment litigation or other procedural fraud.
  3. Payment is not made.
  4. Abuse is perpetrated on another firm.
  5. Fraud involves artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific value.
  6. The situation is of particular gravity.

Computer Fraud (Article 248.2)

Manipulating transfers without consent.

Special Scams

  1. Alienation of charges to third parties (251.1) – Lease of prison or 1-4 years
  2. Disposition of encumbered assets (251.2)
  3. Granting a contract against another simulated