Discuss different types of Marine Fraud.

Different types of maritime fraud/crimes includes: (i) Scuttling of Ships: Also known as 'rust bucket' frauds, this involves deliberate sinking of vessels in pursuance of fraud against both cargo and hull interests. With occasional exceptions, these crimes are committed by ship-owners in a situation where a vessel is approaching or has the end of its economic life, taking into account the age of the vessel, its condition and the prevailing freight market. The crime can be aimed at hull insurers alone or against both hull and cargo interests. (ii) Documentary Frauds: This type of fraud involves the sale and purchase of goods of documentary credit terms and some or all of the documents specified by the buyer to be presented by the seller to the bank in order to receive payment, are forged. Bankers pay against documents. The forged documents attempt to cover up the fact that the goods actually do not exist or that they are not of the quality ordered by the buyer. When the unfortunate purchaser of the goods belatedly realizes that no goods are arriving, he starts checking, only to find that the alleged carrying vessels either does not exist or was loading at some other port at the relevant time. (iii) Cargo Thefts: There are several variations in the modus operandi of cargo thefts. In a typical example, the vessel, having loaded a cargo, deviates from its route and puts it into a port of convenience. The cargo may be discharges and sole on the quayside or in a more sophisticated manner. Such an act is often accompanied by a changed of the vessel's name or a subsequent scuttling in order to hide the evidence of theft. The whole process of investigation is proved difficult as by the time the loss is known the cargo disappears and the actual recovery of goods is unlikely. The owners of these ships are "paper companies" set up a few days prior to the operation. (iv) Fraud related to chartering of Vessels: This is also known as "Charter-part fraud". Establishing a chartering company required a modest initial financial commitment and is usually subject to little regulation. In depressed conditions of shipping market, there is no have demand on tonnage and owners anxious to avoid laying up their vessels are tempted to charter them to unknown companies without demanding any substantial financial guarantee for the performance of the charter contract.