The law of fraud in the contemporary regulatory state: A systematic literature review of doctrine, enforcement, and digital victimization

Fraud law is no longer confined to a single criminal offence or a narrow civil misrepresentation doctrine. Contemporary fraud is regulated through criminal law, tort and equity, securities disclosure rules, corporate governance, whistleblower mechanisms, consumer protection, anti-money-laundering controls, and cybercrime policy. This systematic literature review synthesizes peer-reviewed research on fraud law and enforcement design, with emphasis on studies published in journals commonly indexed by Scopus and/or Web of Science. Following a PRISMA-informed approach, the review maps 42 core studies and complementary legal instruments across five domains: doctrinal elements, enforcement architecture, corporate and securities fraud, organizational detection and whistleblowing, and online fraud victimization. The synthesis shows that fraud law is most effective when it treats deception as both an individual wrongdoing and an institutional failure. The literature consistently links enforcement effectiveness to materiality standards, credible public resources, private enforcement incentives, reputational sanctions, whistleblower protection, and digital guardianship. Yet the review also identifies fragmentation between criminal, civil, regulatory, and platform-based remedies. The paper proposes an integrated fraud-law model that combines clear offence elements, proportionate sanctions, organizational compliance duties, victim-sensitive reporting, and cross-border data cooperation. It concludes that future fraud law should move from reactive punishment toward adaptive legal architecture capable of detecting complex and digitally mediated deception.