Craft, fraud, disguise, A14(14) Revised Penal Code

1. Concept

Craft, fraud, disguise, as an aggravating circumstance under the Revised Penal Code – refers to the circumstance when the offender resorted to employing some form of intellectual trickery, such as a craft, fraud, or disguise in the commission of the crime.

a. Legal basis

Article 14. Aggravating circumstances. - The following are aggravating circumstances:

14. That craft, fraud or disguise be employed.

(Revised Penal Code)

2. Craft, fraud or disguise

For the aggravating circumstance of craft, fraud, or disguise, the offender resorted to employing some form of intellectual trickery, such as a craft, fraud, or disguise in the commission of the crime.

a. Intellectual trickery; Mental means

Craft fraud or disguise53 is a species of aggravating circumstance that denotes intellectual trickery or cunning resorted to by an accused to aid in the execution of his criminal design or to lure the victim into a trap and to conceal the identity of the accused. (People v. Quiñanola, G.R. No. 126148, May 5, 1999, Per Vitug, J.)

This circumstance is characterized by the intellectual or mental rather than the physical means to which the criminal resorts to carry out his design. This paragraph was intended to cover, for example, the case where a thief falsely represents that he is the lover of the servant of a house in order to gain entrance and rob the owner (astucia); or where (fraude) A simulates the handwriting of B, who is a friend of C, inviting the...