North Carolina § 14-100 - Obtaining property by false pretenses.

§ 14-100. Obtaining property by false pretenses.

If any person shall knowingly and designedly by means of any kind of false pretense whatsoever, whether the false pretense is of a past or subsisting fact or of a future fulfillment or event, obtain or attempt to obtain from any person within this State any money, goods, property, services, chose in action, or other thing of value with intent to cheat or defraud any person of such money, goods, property, services, chose in action or other thing of value, such person shall be guilty of a felony: Provided, that if, on the trial of anyone indicted for such crime, it shall be proved that he obtained the property in such manner as to amount to larceny or embezzlement, the jury shall have submitted to them such other felony proved; and no person tried for such felony shall be liable to be afterwards prosecuted for larceny or embezzlement upon the same facts: Provided, further, that it shall be sufficient in any indictment for obtaining or attempting to obtain any such money, goods, property, services, chose in action, or other thing of value by false pretenses to allege that the party accused did the act with intent to defraud, without alleging an intent to defraud any particular person, and without alleging any ownership of the money, goods, property, services, chose in action or other thing of value; and upon the trial of any such indictment, it shall not be necessary to prove either an intent to defraud any particular person or that the person to whom the false pretense was made was the person defrauded, but it shall be sufficient to allege and prove that the party accused made the false pretense charged with an intent to defraud. If the value of the money, goods, property, services, chose in action, or other thing of value is one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) or more, a violation of this section is a Class C felony. If the value of the money, goods, property, services, chose in action, or other thing of value is less than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), a violation of this section is a Class H felony. Evidence of nonfulfillment of a contract obligation standing alone shall not establish the essential element of intent to defraud. In any prosecution for violation of this section, the State is not required to establish that all of the acts constituting the crime occurred in this State or within a single city, county, or local jurisdiction of this State, and it is no defense that not all of the acts constituting the crime occurred in this State or within a single city, county, or local jurisdiction of this State. For purposes of this section, "person" means person, association, consortium, corporation, body politic, partnership, or other group, entity, or organization. History (33 Hen. VIII, c. 1, ss. 1, 2; 30 Geo. II, c. 24, s. 1; 1811, c. 814, s. 2, P.R.; R.C., c. 34, s. 67; Code, s. 1025; Rev., s. 3432; C.S., s. 4277; 1975, c. 783; 1979, c. 760, s. 5; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1316, s. 47; 1981, c. 63, s. 1; c. 179, s. 14; 1997-443, s. 19.25(l); 2019-193, s. 2(a).) Cross References. - As to obtaining property or services by false or fraudulent use of credit cards or other means, see G.S. 14-113.1 et seq. As to alleging intent in the indictment, see G.S. 15-151 . For structured sentencing provisions, see G.S. 15A-1340.10 et seq. Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2019-193, s. 2(b), made subsection (b1), as added by Session Laws 2019-193, s. 2(a), effective December 1, 2019, and applicable to offenses committed on or after that date, and further provided: "Prosecutions for offenses committed before the effective date of this act are not abated by this act, and the statutes that would be applicable but for this act remain applicable to those prosecutions." Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2019-193, s. 2(a), added subsection (b1). For effective date and applicability, see editor's note. Legal Periodicals. - For survey of 1978 constitutional law, see 57 N.C.L. Rev. 958 (1979). For survey of 1979 criminal law, see 58 N.C.L. Rev. 1350 (1980). For survey of 1980 criminal law, see 59 N.C.L. Rev. 1123 (1981). For article, "After Goeller v. United States, Can the Theft Loss Treatment Now Be Applied to Investments When Corporate Deception is Present?," see 38 Campbell L. Rev. 1 (2016).