3 ms·

Legality of fraud should have nothing to do with whether the mail was used.

• tptacek 14y ago
  It doesn't, really. The only difference is the venue where it's prosecuted.
  • shasta 14y ago
    It at least affects maximum sentence, right?
    • tptacek 14y ago
      Fraud terms vary between states, but you're already looking at 10-15 years for commercial fraud before aggravating factors, from what I can tell (I'm not a lawyer).
• rdl 14y ago
  It does influence whether there's federal jurisdiction.
• yew 14y ago
  The idea behind treating mail fraud separately is explicitly that the severity, if not the legality, of fraud should depend on whether or not the mail was involved. Remember that when mail fraud came into existence as a discrete crime the mail was the primary means of communication for essentially everyone and everything. Tampering with it went beyond deceiving any one person or group of people.