"Big orders require pre-payment." That's neither criminal (ex: fraud) nor civil (contract) law. That's just one of countless things a party may or may not choos

"Big orders require pre-payment." That's neither criminal (ex: fraud) nor civil (contract) law. That's just one of countless things a party may or may not choose to do as personal/corporate policy. I might ask for a downpayment, or a full prepayment or a credit card or collateral or just trust you or whatever. It's irrelevant to the question of criminal culpability or civil liability. Unfortunately, you can be at risk even when you are in the right because of practical aspects of recovery such as legal costs, unpredictability of court outcomes, ability of the other party to pay even if they lose in court, etc. So there are extra-legal (not illegal, just private policy) methods of reducing the risk. Whether you choose to avail yourself of such policies or not (including even getting the contract in writing) has no relevance to the legal question of whether a contract was breached.