Editing Mail and wire fraud (section)

==Mail fraud==
{{expand section|date=April 2019}}

Mail fraud was first defined in the United States in 1872.

{{usc|18|1341}} provides:

<blockquote>Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, or to sell, dispose of, loan, exchange, alter, give away, distribute, supply, or furnish or procure for unlawful use any [[counterfeit]] or spurious coin, obligation, security, or other article, or anything represented to be or intimated or held out to be such counterfeit or spurious article, for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice or attempting so to do, places in any post office or authorized depository for mail matter, any matter or thing to be sent or delivered by the [[United States Postal Service|Postal Service]], or deposits or causes to be deposited any matter or thing to be sent or delivered by any private or commercial interstate carrier, or takes or receives therefrom, any such matter or thing, or knowingly causes to be delivered by mail or such carrier according to the direction thereon, or at the place at which it is directed to be delivered by the person to whom it is addressed, any such matter or thing, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation occurs in relation to, or involving any benefit authorized, transported, transmitted, transferred, disbursed, or paid in connection with, a Presidential declared major disaster or emergency (as those terms are defined in section 102 of the [[Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act|Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act]] (42 U.S.C. 5122)), or affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.<ref>{{usc|18|1341}}.</ref></blockquote>

Thus, anyone trying to defraud another individual or group through items of value, e.g., money, through the US mail system or a private mail delivery service and those knowingly participating in that fraud will be punished with a fine and/or prison sentence that cannot be longer than 20 years. 
However, for such acts during a Presidential declared major disaster or emergency, the prison sentence can be as long as 30 years and the fine as great as $1,000,000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=18 U.S. Code § 1341 - Frauds and swindles |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1341 |access-date=2023-06-26 |website=LII / Legal Information Institute |language=en}}</ref>

In mail fraud, US [[Federal jurisdiction (United States)|federal jurisdiction]] is based on the [[Enumerated powers (United States)|enumerated power to create a post office]] under Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution.

[[International_reply_coupon#The_Ponzi_scheme|International reply coupon]]s mailed by participants of [[Charles Ponzi]]'s [[Ponzi scheme|scheme]] are a 20th-century example of mail fraud. Ponzi was charged with the U.S. federal crime of mail fraud.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Darby |first=Mary |title=In Ponzi We Trust |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/in-ponzi-we-trust-64016168/ |access-date=2023-06-26 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>