---
kind: "section"
citation: "18 U.S.C. § 1346"
title: "18"
title_heading: "Crimes and Criminal Procedure"
number: "1346"
heading: "Definition of “scheme or artifice to defraud”"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/18/1346"
units:
  - "Part I — Crimes"
  - "Chapter 63 — Mail Fraud and Other Fraud Offenses"
---

# §1346. Definition of “scheme or artifice to defraud”


For the purposes of this chapter, the term “scheme or artifice to defraud” includes a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.


## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 100–690, title VII, § 7603(a), Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 4508.)