The juridical-historical analysis of the settlements regarding the swindle offence is carried out in the framework of the present article. The author comes the conclusion that the penal norms concerning the fraudulency in the patrimonial domain start to make their appearance only at one time with the dissemination of contractual rapports, based on social division of labour, on money-goods-money relations, on the development of trade and on other elements of the market economy. It is argued that in the Rule of Vasile Lupu, fraudulency is based on a rudimentary conception, integrating heterogeneous elements with embezzlement character: concomitantly, the fraudulency is regarded as an act related to theft, as an act which, alongside theft, will subsequently form (together with other adjacent acts) the generic concept of defalcation. The conclusion that in the process of elaboration of the Penal Code of Republic of Moldova in force, the „appropriation” term (having the meaning of „defalcation”) is dropped from the settlement concerning the swindle offence is likewise important. The renunciation is done in favour of the “illicit attainment” collocation. Hereby, the affiliation of the swindle offence with the defalcations’ group is put under the question mark.