&gt; It would be fraud, unless the seller believed that it was actually a weapon because intent comes into play. But the victim would have to come forward to file a complaint with a legal authority.<p>No, they wouldn&#x27;t; its not generally mandatory, as a matter of law, for the victim to enter a complaint for criminal prosecution to proceed, though often the government will prefer a complaining and actively cooperative victim, since that both demonstrates that there is a problem to address <i>and</i> makes prosecution easier (since the victim will be an important source of both direct evidence and information that will lead to evidence.)