Greenwich Check Fraud Lawyer

Check fraud is a method of forgery. A person takes a check from another person, signs the check holder’s signature, and uses that check.

If you are facing such a charge, it is pertinent that you consult with a Greenwich check fraud lawyer as soon as possible. An experienced attorney will be able to gather all the necessary evidence to help build a case in your favor.

Common Crimes

A common crime associated with check fraud is larceny, the legal term for a theft or stealing of money, goods, or other property. When people commit check fraud, they are also committing a form of larceny, because they are stealing money in addition to the fraudulent representation using the checks.

There are two parts to the process of check fraud that is criminalized. Obtaining the unauthorized checks, writing out of the check, and forging a signature constitutes check fraud. When a person using it obtains money, goods, or other things of value; then it becomes a larceny.

When somebody commits a check fraud, they will likely be charged with larceny if they receive a benefit that was not authorized. Both of these charges can be properly defended using a Greenwich check fraud lawyer.

Potential Penalties

Penalties associated with check fraud include jail time, probation, fines, and most important, as a condition of probation, is restitution. That means paying the person back the value of what they lost.

For example, somebody commits a check fraud by writing a check for $1,000 of another person’s money. When they are sentenced, the judge will order the defendant to pay restitution, usually in the amount that the person actually lost over a certain period of time.

Impact of Age on Sentencing

Age is a factor when sentencing people who have committed check fraud . When a person is sentenced for any crime, the younger person is less culpable of the crime they were guilty of. When discussing culpability, lawyers are talking about their level of responsibility and their level of wrong doing. Somebody that is 30 or 40 years old (older than 25 years of age) and who is otherwise fully functioning in a mental capacity with normal cognitive abilities, would not have a good excuse for committing this type of check fraud. These individuals have the ability to think through what they are doing and understand the consequences and gravity of their actions.

In contrast, a 14 year old is significantly less developed in terms of their cognitive abilities and even in their brain development. This creates a situation where a young person is less likely to be fully aware of the consequences of their actions, meaning they may be fully aware that they will commit a check fraud and receive money that they are not entitled to or not supposed to have, but they may not fully appreciate how it would affect the other person involved or, how wrong it is to take money from another person.

In comparison, if you compare somebody who is 30 and has all of their faculties and fully developed, they would be fully aware of just how wrong their conduct is. The fact that they still do it, knowing all of that, makes them more blame worthy in the eyes of the court or a judge.

On the other hand, the child might be less blame worthy because they are not fully appreciating all of what the consequences are of their actions and how it impacts other people. The judge will be focusing on less punishment with the young person because there is more of an opportunity to learn a lesson from the conduct that can actually lead to different behavior in the future.

Initial Meeting with a Lawyer

When speaking with a Greenwich check fraud attorney, an individual should have any information that they received from law enforcement upon being arrested, any papers or things that the officers had told them, any kind of records that might explain the use of the forged check, et cetera.

If there were circumstances when the other person did indicate an authorization for the check to be used in the way that it was used, this information could provide a defense. Check fraud only occurs when an unauthorized signature or unauthorized use of a check by somebody who is not authorized to make out the check in that person’s name occurs.

If, on the other hand, there was authorization to perform the transaction, as in the case of a personal assistant being given authorization from that person to issue or use their checks, an individual would want the person charged with check fraud to have that information with them that shows that they were in fact authorized to use the checks at issue.

Contacting an Attorney

An individual should contact a Greenwich check fraud lawyer if they are concerned they may be charged with check fraud to help them start gathering evidence to support their defenses. This would most commonly occur under circumstances where there is a dispute as to whether somebody is authorized to use a check in the way that they used it and if somebody believes that dispute may be brought to the police.

An individual will want to have their evidence and their story straight to provide the police an explanation showing why the person believed that they had and were in fact authorized to use a check in a way that they used it. On the other hand, when they bring this to the attention or this explanation to the Greenwich check fraud attorney, they will want to know whether that explanation absolves them of responsibility, whether it does not absolve them of responsibility, or somewhere in between.

Knowing that ahead of any police investigation or interactions with law enforcement will help guide a person concerned about being accused of check fraud in terms of whether and to what extent they should interact with the police so they do not incriminate themselves any further. It will also allow them to understand that if there is an opportunity for disproving the accusations then they would know exactly what information to provide to law enforcement and how they should provide that information.