The subjective side of real estate fraud

The article deals with the subjective side of the criminal offense under Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, in particular, real estate fraud. The author establishes that the subjective side of a criminal offense is of great importance for characterizing fraud. As is known, the subjective side of a criminal offense is its internal side, namely, the mental activity of a person which reflects his/her attitude to the socially dangerous act which he/she commits and its consequences. It is noted that the content of the subjective side of the criminal offense of real estate fraud includes such features as guilt, motive and mercenary purpose. The author concludes that when committing real estate fraud, a person realizes the socially dangerous nature of the offense which he/she commits. Guilt in committing real estate fraud is characterized by direct intent, the content of which is formed by two aspects – intellectual and volitional. The mercenary purpose in committing real estate fraud is expressed in obtaining personal property benefits and is a necessary subjective feature of this type of fraud; it arises in the mind of the guilty person in the form of the final result of the criminal offense – the achievement of material benefit. The motives for committing real estate fraud are of a mercenary nature. They are manifested as internal motivations that guide the perpetrator in committing real estate fraud and form the structure of criminal mercenary motivation. Real estate fraud is committed by persons who are psychologically prepared to commit a criminal offense, clearly realize the illegal actions aimed at seizing ownership of residential property, clearly realize the illegal actions aimed at seizing ownership of someone else’s real estate (to obtain money in a particularly large amount), and the consequences in the form of harm to the victim. Persons who develop such fraudulent schemes mislead victims about their true criminal intentions or abuse the victim’s trust for material gain. The criminals are certainly guided by a selfish purpose and mercenary motives that are fundamental to their behavior.