Insider trading is (roughly) specifically about using non-public corporate information to make money. Fraud is generally about deceiving people. Wire fraud is

Insider trading is (roughly) specifically about using non-public corporate information to make money. Fraud is generally about deceiving people. Wire fraud is specifically about deceiving people using telecommunications devices - imagine when telephones first became popular - a fraudster before had to go knock on every door, expose his face to the town, and possibly be driven out if people found out what he was doing. With telephones, the fraudster could sit in a loft in NYC and call thousands of people all over the country with their fraud, and there would be very little anyone could do to stop them.