Dishonesty Offences

Obtaining property by deception

See Deception.

Obtaining financial advantage by deception

See Deception.

False accounting

Where a person dishonestly, with a view to gain for himself or another or with intent to cause loss to another
- destroys, defaces, conceals or falsifies any account or any record or document made or required for any accounting purpose; or
- in furnishing information for any purpose produces or makes use of any account, or any such record or document as aforesaid, which to his knowledge is or may be misleading, false or deceptive in a material particular.
Penality: level 5 imprisonment (10 years maximum).

For purposes of this section a person who makes or concurs in making in an account or other document an entry which is or may be misleading, false or deceptive in a material particular, or who omits or concurs in omitting a material particular from an account or other document, is to be treated as falsifying the account or document.

Falsification of documents

A person must not make a false document with the intention that he or she, or another person, shall use it to induce another person to accept it as genuine, and by reason of so accepting it to do or not to do some act to that other person's, or to
another person's prejudice.
Penalty: Level 5 imprisonment (10 years maximum).

A person must not use a document which is, and which he or she knows to be, false, with the intention of inducing another person to accept it as genuine, and by reason of so accepting it to do or not to do some act to that other person's, or to another person's prejudice.
Penalty: Level 5 imprisonment (10 years maximum).

A person must not make a copy of a document which is, and which he or she knows to be, a false document, with the intention that he or she, or another person, shall use it to induce another person to accept it as a copy of a genuine document and by reason of so accepting it to do or not to do some act to that other person's, or to another person's prejudice.
Penalty: Level 5 imprisonment (10 years maximum).

A person must not use a copy of a document which is, and which he or she knows to be, a false document, with the intention of inducing another person to accept it as a copy of a genuine document and by reason of so accepting it to do or not to do some act to that other person's, or to another person's prejudice.
Penalty: Level 5 imprisonment (10 years maximum).

A person must not have in his or her custody, or under his or her control, a document which is, and which he or she knows to be, false, with the intention that the person or another shall use it to induce another person to accept it as genuine, and by reason of so accepting it to do or not to do some act to that other person's, or to another person's, prejudice.
Penalty: Level 5 imprisonment (10 years maximum).

A person must not make, or have in his or her custody, or under his or her control, a machine or implement, or paper or other material, which is, and which he or she
knows to be, specially designed or adapted for the making of a document which, if made by him or her, would be false.
Penalty: Level 5 imprisonment (10 years maximum).

A person must not make, or have in his or her custody, or under his or her control, a machine or implement, or paper or other material, which is, and which he or she knows to be, specially designed or adapted for the making of a document which, if made by that other person, would be false.
Penalty: Level 5 imprisonment (10 years maximum).

A person must not, without lawful excuse, make or have in his or her custody, or under his or her control, a machine or implement, or paper or other material, which is and which the person knows to be specially designed or adapted for the making of a document which, if made by him or her, would be false.
Penalty: Level 6 imprisonment (5 years maximum).

A document is false if it purports—
- to have been made in the form in which it is made by a person who did not in fact make it in that form; or
- to have been made in the form in which it is made on the authority of a person who did not in fact authorise its making in that form;
or
- to have been made in the terms in which it is made by a person who did not in fact make it in those terms; or
- to have been made in the terms in which it is made on the authority of a person who did not in fact authorise its making in those terms; or
- to have been altered in any respect by a person who did not in fact alter it in that respect; or
- to have been altered in any respect on the authority of a person who did not in fact authorise the alteration in that respect; or
- to have been made or altered on a date on which, or at a place at which, or otherwise in circumstances in which, it was not in fact made or altered; or to have been made or altered by an existing person who did not in fact exist.

For the purposes of the above, a person is to be treated as making a false document if the person alters a document so as to make it false in any respect (whether or not it is false in some other respect apart from that alteration).

For the purposes of this section an act or omission is to a person's prejudice if, and only if, it is one that, if it occurs
- will result
- in the person's temporary or permanent loss of property; or
- in the person's being deprived of an opportunity to earn remuneration or greater remuneration; or
- in the person's being deprived of an opportunity to obtain a financial advantage otherwise than by way of remuneration; or (b) will result in any person being given an opportunity—
- to earn remuneration or greater remuneration from the first-mentioned person; or
- to obtain a financial advantage from the first-mentioned person otherwise than by way of remuneration; or
- will be the result of the person's having accepted a false document as genuine, or a copy of a false document as a copy of a genuine one, in connection with the person's performance of a duty.

A reference to inducing a person to accept a false document as genuine, or a copy of a false document as a copy of a genuine document, shall be read as including a reference to causing a machine to respond to the document or copy as if it were a genuine document or a copy of a genuine document, as the case may be; and
if a machine so responds to a document or copy; and the act or omission intended to be caused by the machine's so responding is an act or omission that, if it were an act or omission of a person, would be to a person's prejudice

The act or omission intended to be caused by the machine's so responding shall be deemed to be an act or omission to a person's prejudice.

In proceedings for such an offence, if it is necessary to allege an intent to induce a person to accept a false document as genuine, or a copy of a false document as a copy of a genuine one, it is not necessary to allege that the accused intended so to induce a particular person.