I have a criminal record, hit me

[Chakras]

I have a criminal record that's caused a huge amount of problems in life. So go ahead, AMA

Did you do it?

What did you do to get it?

What did you do?

What was the crime?

What was the crime? What problems have you had because of it?

Have you re-offended? Why/why not?

Do you have children who have been affected?

Does it make it hard to get jobs?

Great answers, OP!

Did you go to prison?

Sorry, had an internet dropout!

It was a fraud related offence. Yes I did it, I planned it meticulously, executed it perfectly. Although there were mitigating circumstances that the bench wouldn't consider. I was sent for pre-sentencing and spent 10 hours with a probation expert who went all through the crime, my reasons, what I was expecting.

Back in court, it was again adjourned for another report regarding sentencing, with all options including prison to be considered. Upon sentencing I was told I had come very close to prison and was hit with a massive fine and 240 hours community service.

Yet, over 20 years on, I have no regrets about what I did, and I would do exactly the same again.

I haven't re-offended, no, and my children haven't been affected.

Regarding life. Try getting a bank account, a credit card, a loan with a fraud offence. Declined for jobs because despite being an "outstanding candidate", the moment the criminal record check came back offers were withdrawn, one for a job with a £150,000 salary.

Who was the victim? Was it an individual?

Why would you do it again?

As for the question about what did I do.

I purposely bounced a cheque for a couple of grand on a company.

As for the question about what did I do.

I purposely bounced a cheque for a couple of grand on a company.

How much did you steal? Why would you do it again?

If you know that you’re rejected from £150k jobs, even if you have no moral conscience at all, why would you be keen to do it again for the sake of £2000?

Why do you have no regrets seeing as you a)got caught and b) it affected your career?

How did you get caught?

How do you figure that it hasn't affected your children when it prevents you getting jobs, bank accounts and credit cards?

Do you think the justice system has failed if you feel no remorse and would do it all again?

Why would you do it again ?

Not that perfectly...

An individual owned the company. An individual whom I'd done a fuckton of work for, over a period of about 9 months, and despite assurances I had never been paid. They effectively abused our friendship to get me to do work for them. A rough estimation is I was owed around £60,000.

Bouncing the cheque was an effective way to get something out of them. To show that I could abuse the friendship too.

However, I had no bloody idea that bouncing a cheque was a criminal offence. I thought it would be a civil matter. Something borne out by the report the probation officer wrote - that I should be let go with no punishment due to the mitigation and her saying that I would not offend again. Bench went against that and effectively screwed huge parts of my life.

The problem is, when a DBS check is requested, it comes back as "Fraud". With no further details, and I can assure you, when people see "fraud" they aren't thinking of someone bouncing a fucking cheque!

So you don’t regret the act of petty one-upmanship that has cost you significant loss of earning, financial difficulties and career prospects?

Why on earth would you not change anything if you could?

What does bouncing a cheque mean?