# "Why was it when this conman took £1530 or $3060 from me he hadn't committed any offence then?" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 23, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170 "2015-12-23T13:30:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170/21 "2015-12-23T17:54:20Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I don’t think there’s any law that says when you “borrow” money from someone, you MUST spend it for the purpose you promised. This is not a contract (“I give you 400 quid, you give me first month in a flat”) it’s a loan. Of course you can include a clause in a loan contract (yes, loans are also contractual relationships) obliging the borrower to use the borrowed amount for a particular purpose. Such clauses are not at all uncommon in commercial transactions and, in the vast majority of cases, enforced by courts. That’s the private law side of things. As for the criminal law side of things, the assessment obvioulsy varies by jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions, though, include a criminal offence (called fraud or something else) which captures situations whereby someone intentionally makes false reprrsentations to make someone else part of their property. Whether the facts of the OP’s case give rise to criminal liability under such offences, we do not know, but it’s not at all implausible to suppose, for the sake of this discussion, that they do. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170/22 "2015-12-23T18:03:56Z")
£1530 = roughly $2275, not $3060. Wow, I just saved you $785! Any chance you could lend it to me? I swear I’ll go to the ATM and pay you back as soon as I get my fingers unstuck from this train door. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170/23 "2015-12-23T19:33:23Z")
On a side note, what on Earth is “selling quizzes for charity”? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170/24 "2015-12-23T20:45:35Z")
I certainly wouldn’t be making a formal complaint to the wallopers. They’d laugh you right out of the station and you’d be the butt of their ‘in’ jokes forever. “Hey Joe, remember that time that bloke Dunmurry wanted to press charges?” as they both roll on the floor laughing their arses off. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170/25 "2015-12-23T21:01:57Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Except he referred to amounts of money in pounds sterling, and Ireland uses the Euro. I’m guessing that the OP’s initial encounter took place in **Northern** Ireland, which _does_ use pounds sterling. [Same-day train tickets from Belfast to Dublin](http://www.translink.co.uk/Fares/) are around £30, so that part of the OP at least makes sense (but is the last part that _does_). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170/26 "2015-12-23T21:26:07Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > Of course you can include a clause in a loan contract (yes, loans are also contractual relationships) obliging the borrower to use the borrowed amount for a particular purpose. Such clauses are not at all uncommon in commercial transactions and, in the vast majority of cases, enforced by courts. That’s the private law side of things. Yes, but you can’t just make up that clause after the fact. The OP may have relied on the con artist’s representations, but that does not mean that the con artist is required to use the loan for the purposes he asked for it for. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170/27 "2015-12-23T22:54:14Z")
> [@Antonius\_Block](#): > > I’m guessing that the OP’s initial encounter took place in **Northern** Ireland, which _does_ use pounds sterling. [Same-day train tickets from Belfast to Dublin](http://www.translink.co.uk/Fares/) are around £30, so that part of the OP at least makes sense (but is the last part that _does_). Ah, then he would be in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170/28 "2015-12-24T02:14:59Z")
Since this involves legal advice, let’s move it to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170/29 "2015-12-24T13:17:14Z")
13 years, only 137 posts… ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170/30 "2015-12-25T21:07:10Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Yes, but you can’t just make up that clause after the fact. The OP may have relied on the con artist’s representations, but that does not mean that the con artist is required to use the loan for the purposes he asked for it for. Jim: Can I borrow $30 for a train ticket? I’ll pay you back double next week. Bob: Sure. We have an oral contract between Jim and Bob. What are the terms of that contract? Does the contract include the requirement that Jim use the $30 for a train ticket? I would argue that it does. That clause hasn’t been added after the fact; it was included in the initial offer to contract. I’m sure there’s loads of law on what sorts of requirements require written contracts to be binding, but I don’t know what they are in that (or any) jurisdiction. If I were deciding this case based on my understanding of the law, I would say that Bob has breached the contract if he didn’t buy a train ticket. And that he’s committed fraud if he never intended to buy a train ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170/31 "2015-12-25T22:08:04Z")
I’d have sworn a recent join date, but he’s been here since 2002. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-it-when-this-conman-took-1530-or-3060-from-me-he-hadnt-committed-any-offence-then/741170.md?page=1)