If I find a lost credit card and use it to make purchases, is this considered fraud or credit card fraud?

In this scenario, your cousin's act constitutes credit card fraud rather than general fraud, as defined by China's Criminal Law. Article 196 of the Criminal Law specifies that using another person's credit card without their permission is one of the forms of credit card fraud. General fraud (Article 266) refers to the act of defrauding public or private property by means of deception, but credit card fraud is a special type of fraud that targets credit card-related transactions, with specific legal provisions and penalties.

The key difference here lies in the object of the crime: credit card fraud involves the use of credit cards (or similar payment tools) as the medium, while general fraud does not have this specific medium requirement. For your cousin's case, since he used someone else's lost credit card to make purchases, this directly falls into the scope of credit card fraud as stipulated in Article 196.

Practically, your cousin should immediately return the purchased items or compensate the card owner for the losses, and actively cooperate with the police investigation. It is also advisable to consult a professional criminal lawyer as soon as possible to understand the possible legal liabilities and take appropriate remedial measures. If the amount involved is not particularly large and he shows a good attitude of repentance, the legal consequences may be mitigated.