- Theft is a relatively simple crime with a lot of off-shoots to it. For instance there's regular theft (when you take someone else's property), there's identity theft (when you impersonate another person to steal their credit and money), and there's theft by conversion, which is when you are given money or property for one purpose, and you use it for another.
- If you obtain funds or property of someone else in a legal way for a certain use (such as a lawyer receiving funds from his client to pay legal fees), but then convert those funds or property to your own purposes (such as the lawyer taking the money and using it to pay his alimony instead of his client's fees) then you have committed theft by conversion. You didn't steal the money or property, but you have altered the purpose for which it was supposed to be used.
- Intent is always a part of a theft crime. For instance, let's say that you were given a certain amount of money by your employer and he told you to pay bills with it. Misunderstanding the instructions, you pay your own bills rather than the boss's bills, thinking that he was helping you out. You have not committed theft by conversion here because you did not have the conscious intent to take that money and use it for an unintended purpose.
- Theft by conversion can also be modified by the words "attempted" and "conspiracy to commit". If multiple people intend to commit conversion by theft and plan to do so, then they have conspired to commit conversion theft. Attempted theft by conversion is when you actually attempt to commit the crime, but for some reason fail (perhaps you tried to sign the check over to your own name and the bank refused to let you do so). These crimes can both be charged in situations where the theft isn't fully carried through, but it may have done damage simply in the planning or attempt.