Deception (Criminal Law)

Deception was a legal term of art in the criminal law of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and remains one in Ireland, naming a category of theft-like offenses built around obtaining property, services, or advantage by dishonest representation. Under section 15(4) of the Theft Act 1968, deception was defined as any deception, whether deliberate or reckless, made by words or conduct as to fact or as to law, including a deception as to a person's present intentions, with the Theft Act 1978 adding further deception offenses to the same framework. The deception offenses were repealed in England and Wales on 15 January 2007 by the Fraud Act 2006, which replaced them with a general offense of fraud, though the equivalent deception offenses remain in force in Ireland under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/