Fraud charges in Queensland

What section 408C actually covers

The section makes it an offence to dishonestly do any of a long list of things, including applying property belonging to another to your own use, obtaining property from any person, inducing someone to deliver property, gaining a benefit or advantage, causing a detriment, inducing a person to do or not do an act they are lawfully entitled to do, and making off without paying.

That breadth is why fraud is charged so often. Examples that all fall inside section 408C:

• An employee processing false invoices to a company they control.
• A bookkeeper paying company funds into a personal account.
• Using an employer fuel card for private use.
• Overstating an insurance claim.
• A tradesperson taking a deposit for work never intended to be done.
• Leaving a restaurant or a service station without paying.

The elements, and where cases are won

The prosecution must prove the conduct and that it was dishonest. Dishonesty is judged by the standards of ordinary honest people, and it is a question for the jury or magistrate rather than a technical accounting test.

The two arguments that most often succeed are:

1. Authority. Where you were permitted to use the money or the account, the conduct is not dishonest even if it was foolish or poorly documented. Small business fraud allegations frequently collapse on this point once the actual arrangements between the parties are examined.
2. Claim of right, section 22(2). An honest claim of right without intent to defraud is a defence. If you genuinely believed you were entitled to the money, for example as unpaid wages or an agreed commission, the belief does not have to be reasonable, only honest.

The third battleground is quantification. Prosecution schedules are often assembled from bank statements and assume every unexplained transaction is fraudulent. Moving a total from $102,000 to $96,000 drops the maximum from 20 years to 14 and can move the matter out of the excluded category for summary disposal.

Which court, and why the amount matters twice

Fraud is an indictable offence. Under section 552BA it must be dealt with summarily in a Magistrates Court unless it is an excluded offence under section 552BB. The key exclusion is value: where the yield or detriment is $30,000 or more and you do not plead guilty, the matter must go to the District Court.

That means the amount does two things. It sets the maximum penalty, and it decides which court sentences you, and a magistrate cannot impose more than 3 years under section 552H. For a defendant facing a marginal figure, the difference is significant.

Sentencing, restitution and the conviction question

Queensland courts treat fraud involving a breach of trust seriously, because it is planned, repeated and usually concealed. Actual imprisonment becomes a real prospect once the amount reaches the tens of thousands, particularly where the offending ran over a long period and the money went on lifestyle rather than necessity.

Three things reduce the sentence more reliably than anything else:

• Repayment before sentence. Money actually paid back, not promised. A court can order restitution under section 35 of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld) anyway, so voluntary repayment is what carries weight.
• An early plea, which attracts a discount under section 13, and in a document heavy fraud saves an enormous amount of court time.
• Genuine explanation. A gambling addiction, a mental health condition or coercion, supported by a psychologist report rather than asserted from the bar table.

A recorded conviction for fraud ends most work in accounting, financial services, real estate and any role requiring a licence or a fidelity bond. If your work depends on it, that consequence should be evidenced and put squarely before the court under section 12.