Obtaining Services by Deception

Obtaining services by deception is a statutory offense that penalizes securing services, rather than property, through dishonest deception. In England and Wales it was codified under section 1 of the Theft Act 1978, and in Northern Ireland under the Theft (Northern Ireland) Order 1978, but both versions have been abolished, the Northern Ireland offense repealed in 2007 when the Fraud Act 2006 took effect. The offense remains active law in the Republic of Ireland, created by section 7 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001, illustrating how the United Kingdom and Ireland have diverged in replacing narrow deception offenses with broader fraud legislation.