Relevant circumstances leading to fraud using phone message (7)
I believe the answer is:
context
'relevant circumstances' is the definition.
'context' can be an answer for 'circumstances' (I've seen this in another clue). I am not sure about the 'relevant' bit.
'fraud using phone message' is the wordplay.
'fraud' becomes 'con' (con is a kind of fraud).
'using' says to put letters next to each other.
'phone message' becomes 'text' (I've seen this before).
'con'+'text'='CONTEXT'
'leading to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for context that I've seen before include "what they relate to" , "Surrounding circumstances" , "Setting of discourse" , "Words surrounding a word or phrase that may fix its true meaning" , "Surrounding setting" .)