CRIMES INVOLVING FRAUD

Credit Card Offenses

CREDIT CARD THEFT

• A person is guilty of credit card theft when:
  • He takes, obtains, or withholds a credit card or credit card number from the possession or control of another, or uses such card with knowledge it has been stolen; or
  • He receives a credit card or credit card number that he knows to have been lost, mislaid, or delivered under a mistake to the identity or address of the cardholder, or
  • He, not being the issuer, sells a credit card or credit card number or buys a credit card from a person other than the issuer, or
  • During any twelve month period, receives credit cards or credit card numbers issued in the names of two or more persons which he has reason to believe were obtained from a person other than the issuer.
• Credit card theft is punished as grand larceny.
• VIRGINIA CODE: http://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title18.2/chapter6/section18.2-192/

CREDIT CARD FORGERY

• A person is guilty of credit card forgery when:
  • With intent to defraud, he falsely makes or employs as true a purported credit card, or
  • Not being the cardholder, with intent to defraud the issuer, signs a credit card, or
  • Not being the cardholder, with the intent to defraud, uses a credit card number or employs as true a forged draft knowing it to be forged.
• A person falsely makes a credit card when he makes or draws, a device or instrument which purports to be the credit card because the issuer did not authorize the making or drawing, or alters a credit card which was validly issued.
• Credit card forgery is a Class 5 felony, punishable by up to ten years in prison and a $2,500 fine, either or both.

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