What is the difference between Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud?

Mail fraud, unsurprisingly, requires use of the U.S. postal service to commit fraud. Wire fraud, on the other hand, involves wire-based communications including telephone, fax, television, text message, and internet.

Mail fraud and wire fraud are each specifically defined as crimes under federal statute. The definition of mail fraud is a bit simpler – in a nutshell, it is devising or carrying out a scheme to commit fraudulent acts using the mail. Wire fraud sounds more complicated – it requires an intentional scheme to defraud another out of money, with a reasonable expectation that interstate wire communications would be used and in the end are in fact used. However, federal courts have made clear that the wire fraud statute is a parallel to the mail fraud statute and the only difference is the type of communication used.