Cheating is a criminal offence under the Indian Penal Code of 1860.
Cheating refers to an act or omission done to gain profit or advantage
from another person by using some deceitful means.

• In section 415, cheating is explained as,Any person who dishonestly or fraudulently induces a person to
  deliver any property orInduces them to retain any property or  intentionally induces a person to do or omit to do anythingwhich he would not do or omit if he were not deceived.Any act or omission that is likely to cause damage or harm to a person’s body, mind, reputation, or property is considered cheating. Hence, according to this section, the essentials of cheating are:
• A person is induced by deception caused by the accused. The said person was induced fraudulently or dishonestly .A person is said to do a thing fraudulently if he does that
  thing with intent to defraud.Whoever does anything to cause wrongful gain to one person or wrongful loss to another person is said to do that thing dishonestly.The inducement was intentional.
• Such an act has caused or is likely to cause damage or harm to the
  person induced in body, mind, reputation, or property.

• Under Section 416 of the IPC, cheating by personation is explained as follows:
  If a person cheats on someone by pretending to be another specific person or If a person knowingly substitutes one person for another, The person substituting must be aware that the person being represented differs from the person being substituted.
• It represents a person as some other person, and then he is
  said to cheat by personation. The offence is only considered under this category if the person who is personated is genuine and not imaginary.

• This is similar to section 415 but specifies more aggravated cheating
  forms.Under this section, the essentials of cheating are;
• Either induced to deliver any property to some other person or Make, alter or destroy
  1. The whole or any part of valuable security or
  2. Something that is signed, sealed, and capable of being converted into a valuable security.
  3. A guilty intention must exist at the time of inducement or delivery of property.

• Threatening another person with harm to their person, reputation, or
  property, or to the person or reputation of someone they care about. Such threats cause fear or alarm in the targeted person to compel them to perform an act they are not legally obligated to do or to refrain from doing an act they are legally entitled to do. Criminal intimidation is given under section 503 of IPC.
• Punishment for criminal intimidation as given under section 506 is : Imprisonment for a term that may extend to two years or with or with both.
• If the threat was to cause death or grievous hurt or to cause the destruction of any property by fire, or to cause an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years.
• If the threat was to impute unchastity to a woman, then the punishment is imprisonment for a term that may extend to seven years or with a fine or both.

Cheating is an offence under the IPC where a person deceives another to induce them to perform or omit an act. The accused  intention plays a crucial role and is considered in determining liability. Two main elements must be present to constitute the offence: deception and inducement. It must be proven that the accused intended to cheat when making a false representation. All three sections come under the big umbrella of cheating but differ in the extent and form of deception. Section 506 deals with the punishment for criminal intimidation, which is a crime of inducing by threatening rather than dishonesty, which is of greater extent than the other three sections.