APPENDICES
¶Blagging offences – obtaining information by misleading or deceitful practices 5.30 There are a number of offences that potentially criminalise "blagging" or. in other words, the obtaining of information by using a pretence, false identity or false representations:
(a) s1 Fraud Act 2006 (fraud by false representation) and deception offences under the Theft Acts; (b) s1 Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, Identity Cards Act 2006 (use of false documentation to prove identity); (c) s90 Police Act 1996 (impersonation of a police officer); (d) Official Secrets Act 1920 (unauthorised use of uniforms, falsification of reports, forgery, impersonation or the false use of documents to gain admission to a prohibited place within the meaning of the Official Secrets Act 1911); (e) s55 DPA (unlawfully obtaining personal data).
¶The Theft Acts 1968 and 1978 5.31 The Theft Acts 1968 and 1978 set out deception offences which criminalise conduct in which
something was dishonestly obtained. For example, s15 of the Theft Act 1968 criminalised obtaining property by deception and s1 of the Theft Act 1978 criminalised obtaining services by deception. By s15(4) of the Theft Act 1968, "deception" means any deception (whether deliberate or reckless) by words or conduct as to fact or as to law, including a deception as to the present intentions of the person using the deception or any other person. The judicial definition of deception frequently cited is "to deceive is … to induce a man to believe that at thing is true which is false".461
¶5.32 These offences were repealed by the Fraud Act 2006 with effect from 15 January 2007. The
old law is not, however, without relevance: it will continue to apply in so far as offences were committed or partly committed before that date.
¶Fraud Act 2006 5.33 The Fraud Act 2006 repealed the offences under the Theft Acts 1968 and 1978 and replaced
them with a general offence of fraud as set out in s1 of the Act and an offence of obtaining services dishonesty, s11. It applies to offences committed after 15 January 2007.
¶5.34 Section 1(1) of the Act provides that a person is guilty of fraud if he or she is in breach of any
of the sections listed in s1(2). There sections are: (a) fraud by false representations, s2; (b) fraud by failing to disclose information, s3; (c) fraud by abuse of position, s4.
¶5.35 Breaches of ss2 – 4 are not stand-alone offences, but are variations of an offence of fraud under s1.
1933¶Appendix 4 | Legal Materials
¶5.36 Section 2 concerns fraud by false representation. A person is in breach of s2 if they dishonestly
make a false representation and intend by making that representation to i) make a gain for themselves or another, or ii) to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.462
¶5.37 Section 3 concerns fraud by failing to disclose information. A person is in breach of s3 if they
dishonestly fail to disclose to another person information which they are under a legal duty to disclose and intend, by failing to disclose the information i) to make gain for themselves or another, or ii) to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.463
¶5.38 Section 4 concerns fraud by abuse of position. A person is in breach of s4 if they occupy a
position in which they are expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of another person, dishonestly abuse that position and intend, by means of the abuse of that position i) to make a gain for themselves or another, or ii) to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.
¶5.39 The focus of these offences is the conduct and the intent of the defendant as opposed to
the consequences of the conduct. Attempts to defraud that are unsuccessful, for example false representations made to obtain information that do not result in the obtaining of the information, may nevertheless still amount to fraud.
¶5.40 Dishonesty in fraud cases requires a two part test to be considered: firstly whether according
to the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people what was done was dishonest, and secondly whether the defendant must have realised that what they were doing was (by reference to the standards of reasonable and honest people) dishonest.464
¶5.41 The mens rea (i.e. mental) element common to all variants of the fraud offences is that the
defendant must act either, with intent to secure a gain for themselves or another, or with intent to cause loss to another or expose another to a risk of loss. It is not necessary that the gain, loss or exposure to risk of loss actually occurs – the focus is on the mental state of the defendant. Gain and loss are defined in s5.
¶5.42 A person guilty of fraud is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding six months and/or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum. A person convicted on indictment is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to a fine.465 The relevant sentencing guidelines for fraud offences are the SGC Guideline, Sentencing for Fraud – Statutory Offences.466
¶5.43 Section 11 concerns obtaining services dishonestly. A person is guilty of an offence under s11
1934if they obtain services for themselves or another, a) by a dishonest act and, (b) in breach of s11(2), namely services are made available on the basis that payment has been, is being, or will be made for or in respect of the services, they obtain them without any payment having been made for the services in full, and, when they obtain the services they knows that, i) they