Chapter 29

#FALSE PRETENCES.

304. Definition of false pretence.

Any representation made by words, writing or conduct, of a matter of fact, either past or present, which representation is false in fact, and which the person making it knows to be false or does not believe to be true, is a false pretence.

305. Obtaining goods by false pretences.

Any person who by any false pretence, and with intent to defraud, obtains from any other person anything capable of being stolen, or induces any other person to deliver to any person anything capable of being stolen, commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for five years.

306. Obtaining execution of a security by false pretences.

Any person who by any false pretence, and with intent to defraud, induces any person to execute, make, accept, endorse, alter or destroy the whole or any part of any valuable security, or to write any name or impress or affix any seal upon or to any paper or parchment in order that it may be afterwards made or converted into or used or dealt with as a valuable security, commits a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for five years.

307. Cheating.

Any person who by means of any fraudulent trick or device obtains from any other person anything capable of being stolen, or induces any other person to deliver to any person anything capable of being stolen or to pay or deliver to any person any money or goods or any greater sum of money or greater quantity of goods than he or she would have paid or delivered but for such trick or device, commits a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for three years.

308. Obtaining credit, etc. by false pretences.

Any person who— (a) in incurring any debt or liability obtains credit by any false pretence or by means of any other fraud;

(b) with intent to defraud his or her creditors or any of them, makes or causes to be made any gift, delivery or transfer of or any charge on his or her property; or

(c) with intent to defraud his or her creditors or any of them, sells or removes any part of his or her property since or within two months before the date of any unsatisfied judgment or order for payment of money obtained against him or her, commits a misdemeanour.

309. Conspiracy to defraud.

Any person who conspires with another by deceit or any fraudulent means to affect the market price of anything publicly sold, or to defraud the public or any person, whether a particular person or not, or to extort any property from any person, commits a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for three years.

310. Frauds on sale or mortgage of property.

Any person who, being a seller or mortgagor of any property, or being the advocate or agent of any such seller or mortgagor, with intent to induce the purchaser or mortgagee to accept the title offered or produced to him or her, and with intent to defraud— (a) conceals from the purchaser or mortgagee any instrument material to the title or any incumbrance;

(b) falsifies any pedigree on which the title depends or may depend; or

(c) makes any false statement as to the title offered or conceals any fact material to the title, commits a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for two years.

311. Pretending to tell fortunes.

Any person who for gain or reward undertakes to tell fortunes or pretends from his or her skill or knowledge in any occult science to discover where or in what manner anything supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found commits a misdemeanour.

312. Obtaining registration, etc. by false pretence.

Any person who wilfully procures or attempts to procure for himself or herself or any other person any registration, licence or certificate under any law by any false pretence commits a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for one year.

313. False declaration for passport.

Any person who makes a statement which is to his or her knowledge untrue for the purpose of procuring a passport, whether for himself or herself or for any other person, commits a misdemeanour