Conspiracy to defraud is an offence under the common law of England and Wales and Northern Ireland.
The standard definition of a conspiracy to defraud was provided by Lord Dilhorne in Scott v Metropolitan Police Commissioner,[1] when he said that: it is clearly the law that an agreement by two or more by dishonesty to deprive a person of something which is his or to which he is or would be entitled and an agreement by two or more by dishonesty to injure some proprietary right of his, suffices to constitute the offence of conspiracy to defraud.
This does not require the defendants' actions to directly result in the fraud; in R v Hollinshead,[3] the House of Lords held that producing devices designed to alter electricity meter readings constituted conspiracy to defraud, even though the actual fraud would be carried out by members of the public rather than the conspirators.
In two situations, it will not even be necessary for the actions to directly lead to any kind of financial loss for the victim; these are when the conspirators plan to deceive a person holding public office into acting counter to their duties, and when the conspirators know that their actions put the victim's property at risk, even if the risk never materialises.
For the mens rea, it is necessary to prove that "the purpose of the conspirators (was) to cause the victim economic loss" (per Lord Diplock in Scott).
were then carrying on a genuine business as jewellers at in the county of , and that they were then able to supply certain articles of jewellery to whomsoever would remit to them the sum of two pounds.A person guilty of conspiracy to defraud is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for any term not exceeding ten years, or to a fine, or to both.