(a) A person commits theft by deception if, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate property of another to oneself or a third person, the person obtains the property of another by deception.
(b) In a prosecution based on theft by deception, if the state seeks to prove that the defendant used deception by promising performance which the defendant did not intend to perform or knew would not be performed, that intent or knowledge may not be established solely by or inferred solely from the fact that the promise was not performed.
(c) As used in this section, “deception” has the meaning ascribed to it in AS 11.81.900 but does not include falsity as to matters having no pecuniary significance or “puffing” by statements unlikely to deceive reasonable persons in the group addressed.