The Criminal Contour of Consumer Fraud
Business practice built on misleading consumers is punished in Georgia by two criminal provisions: fraud — Article 180 of the Criminal Code — and false advertising — Article 201. The first governs the acquisition of property or property rights by deception and covers most consumer schemes; the second governs the deliberate misleading of the consumer by the advertising customer, producer or distributor. A boundary should be noted too: the administrative regime of "unfair and deceptive acts" known from the United States system does not exist as such in Georgia — the civil consumer-protection apparatus belongs to separate legislation, while the criminal exposure stands precisely on these two articles.