Criminal punishment includes fines and imprisonment. There are other federal fraud laws. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines recommend consideration of the intended victims of fraud in the sentencing of fraud defendants. The guidelines urge an upward departure from standard sentences if the intended victims are especially vulnerable. For example, if a defendant markets an ineffective cancer cure, that scheme, if found to be fraudulent, would warrant more punishment than a scheme that targets persons generally and coincidentally happens to injure a vulnerable person.
All states maintain a general criminal statute designed to punish fraud.
In Arizona, the statute is called the fraudulent scheme and artifice statute. States further criminalize fraud in a variety of settings, including trade and commerce, securities, taxes, real estate, gambling, insurance, government benefits, and credit. In civil court, the remedy for fraud can vary. This is a measure of the difference between the represented value and the actual value of the transaction. In some states, a plaintiff may recover as actual damages only the value of the property lost in the fraudulent transaction.