Act No. 3815 — Revised Penal Code, Article 315 (Estafa / Swindling) — Full Text

Article 315. Swindling (estafa). — Any person who shall defraud another by any of the means mentioned hereinbelow shall be punished by the penalties prescribed in this article. The penalty graduations were adjusted by Republic Act No. 10951 (29 August 2017) to reflect present-day peso values.

1. With unfaithfulness or abuse of confidence, namely:

(a) By altering the substance, quantity, or quality of anything of value which the offender shall deliver by virtue of an obligation to do so, even though such obligation be based on an immoral or illegal consideration;

(b) By misappropriating or converting, to the prejudice of another, money, goods, or any other personal property received by the offender in trust, or on commission, or for administration, or under any other obligation involving the duty to make delivery of, or to return the same, even though such obligation be totally or partially guaranteed by a bond; or by denying having received such money, goods, or other property; and

(c) By taking undue advantage of the signature of the offended party in blank, and by writing any document above such signature in blank, to the prejudice of the offended party or of any third person.

2. By means of any of the following false pretenses or fraudulent acts executed prior to or simultaneously with the commission of the fraud:

(a) By using fictitious name, or falsely pretending to possess power, influence, qualifications, property, credit, agency, business, or imaginary transactions; or by means of other similar deceits;

(b) By altering the quality, fineness, or weight of anything pertaining to his art or business;

(c) By pretending to have bribed any Government employee, without prejudice to the action for calumny which the offended party may deem proper to bring against the offender; in this case, the offender shall be punished by the maximum period of the penalty;

(d) [By post-dating a check, or issuing a check in payment of an obligation when the offender therein were not sufficient to cover the amount of the check. The failure of the drawer of the check to deposit the amount necessary to cover his check within three (3) days from receipt of notice from the bank and/or the payee or holder that said check has been dishonored for lack or insufficiency of funds shall be prima facie evidence of deceit constituting false pretense or fraudulent act.];

(e) By obtaining any food, refreshment, or accommodation at a hotel, inn, restaurant, boarding house, lodging house, or apartment house and the like, without paying therefor, with intent to defraud the proprietor or manager thereof, or by obtaining credit at a hotel, inn, restaurant, boarding house, lodging house, or apartment house by the use of any false pretense, or by abandoning or surreptitiously removing any part of his baggage from a hotel, inn, restaurant, boarding house, lodging house, or apartment house after obtaining credit, food, refreshment, or accommodation therein without paying for his food, refreshment, or accommodation.

3. Through any of the following fraudulent means:

(a) By inducing another, by means of deceit, to sign any document;

(b) By resorting to some fraudulent practice to insure success in a gambling game;

(c) By removing, concealing, or destroying, in whole or in part, any court record, office files, document, or any other papers.

Penalty framework (as amended by RA 10951): the principal penalties are graduated by the amount of the fraud, ranging from arresto mayor (where the amount does not exceed ₱40,000) up to reclusión temporal in its maximum period (where the amount exceeds ₱8,800,000), with intermediate ranges of arresto mayor maximum to prisión correccional minimum (₱40,000 – ₱1,200,000), prisión correccional minimum to medium (₱1,200,000 – ₱2,400,000), and prisión correccional maximum to prisión mayor minimum (₱2,400,000 – ₱4,400,000), with one (1) additional year added for each additional ₱2,000,000 above ₱4,400,000 and the total imposable penalty not to exceed twenty (20) years.

Practical implication for consumer-finance contexts: where a financing company, lending company, pawnshop, or remittance agent receives money or property in trust, on commission, or for administration and fails or refuses to deliver or return it — or denies receipt of it — the conduct can fall within Article 315(1)(b) (misappropriation or conversion of property received under an obligation to deliver or return). Filing a criminal complaint for estafa typically proceeds through the Office of the City or Provincial Prosecutor on a complaint-affidavit supported by the contract, receipts, and the demand letter showing the refusal or failure to return.

See the linked authoritative sources for the complete, unedited text of Article 315 and the rest of the Revised Penal Code.