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There are three common forms of credit card fraud. One form of credit card fraud involves someone using or attempting to use a fake credit or debit card. Another is someone using or attempting to use someone else’s credit or debit card without his/her permission. The third most common form of credit card fraud is using your own credit or debit card knowing that it has been cancelled or expired, or that you don’t have enough money in your account to cover the transaction.
California’s credit card laws are found in Penal Code Sections 484e 484f 484g 484h and 484j. These laws are designed to punish a variety of fraudulent practices involving credit and debit cards. They specifically prohibit forgery, altering, stealing, counterfeiting or disseminating information to another person about credit or debit cards or card account information. The exact nature of the violation will dictate the penalties that you face, but generally speaking, all instances of California credit card fraud are punished as petty theft, grand theft or forgery.
Although it is also a state crime in California, credit and debit card fraud can be treated as a federal offense under 15 U.S. Code § 1644. If, for example, you are accused of committing this crime on government property, against a government entity or across state lines, you can be charged with violating America’s federal fraud laws, as well as a state law.
Because credit card fraud is such a widespread problem, there are a number of government agencies that collaborate to fight this white collar crime. These agencies include, but are not limited to, the National Fraud Information Center (NFIC), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Federal credit card and debit card fraud subjects an offender to much greater penalties than state violations; a federal offender faces substantial fines of up to $10,000 and up to 10 years in prison. Credit card fraud is particularly serious because, depending on your case, the prosecution may also file double or multiple charges against you because each fraudulent transaction can result in a separate charge.
If you find yourself accused of credit card fraud, there a number of defense strategies that are effective. One is demonstrating to the prosecution that you honestly believed that you had the owner’s permission to use the card. You had not intent to defraud.
Likewise, if you are accused of using a fake or fictitious credit or debit card, we can argue that you did not know this to be the case and likewise, you had no intent to deceive anyone.
People make honest mistakes and sometimes don’t know they’ve run out of money before using their cards.
If you find yourself in any of the situations described above, we invite you to contact us as soon as possible so that we can begin working together to have the charges dismissed.
