18 U.S.C. 1341 addresses a scheme to defraud or obtain money or property through fraudulent pretenses, together with qualifying use of the mail or a private or commercial interstate carrier to carry out the scheme. A broken promise or unsuccessful business deal is not automatically mail fraud. [1]
Connect the mailing to the scheme
The government must establish the required fraudulent intent and the legally sufficient relationship between the mailing and the scheme. A defendant need not personally place every item in the mail if the governing causation rules are satisfied. The actual representations and transaction chronology matter.
Penalties vary with the case
The ordinary statutory imprisonment maximum is 20 years. A qualifying major-disaster or emergency connection, or an offense affecting a financial institution, can trigger the enhanced 30-year maximum and statutory fine provision. These are maximums, not mandatory outcomes for every conviction. [1]
Restitution can be a separate part of the judgment under applicable law. It should not be confused with a fine payable to the government. [2]
Preserve the full transaction history
Useful records include advertisements, contracts, disclosures, refund communications, mailing records, and internal messages bearing on intent. An honest mistake and a knowingly false material representation require different factual analyses.
For example, a delayed shipment with documented supply problems does not alone establish an intentional scheme to take money through deception.
Intent and execution need their own evidence
A mailing can be routine on its face while still advancing a fraudulent scheme, and a suspicious statement can exist without the required mailing connection. Build the chronology showing the representation, the intended money or property, the recipient’s role, and how the mailing advanced the alleged objective. Preserve later explanations and corrective actions as context rather than assuming they either prove innocence or erase an earlier scheme automatically. Enhanced penalties involving a financial institution or a disaster require the statutory connection, not merely a bank account or a storm somewhere in the background. Ask which facts support each enhancement separately. [1]
Compare counterfeit trafficking and bankruptcy fraud. Using mail in another disputed transaction does not eliminate the need to prove each mail-fraud element.
Primary sources
Sources checked: October 31, 2026.