Penal Law § 165.30

Fraudulent accosting · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 165.30 Fraudulent accosting.

1. A person is guilty of fraudulent accosting when he accosts a person in a public place with intent to defraud him of money or other property by means of a trick, swindle or confidence game.

2. A person who, either at the time he accosts another in a public place or at some subsequent time or at some other place, makes statements to him or engages in conduct with respect to him of a kind commonly made or performed in the perpetration of a known type of confidence game, is presumed to intend to defraud such person of money or other property.

Fraudulent accosting is a class A misdemeanor.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/165.30

In plain English

(1) A person commits fraudulent accosting by approaching someone in a public place intending to obtain money or property through a trick, swindle, or confidence game.
(2) Using statements or conduct commonly associated with a known confidence game creates a presumption of intent to defraud, whether done during the approach or later. ★

It is a class A misdemeanor.

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.