CREDIT CARD OR DEBIT CARD ABUSE

What is it? Credit Card Abuse is when a credit or debit card is used without the true owners consent in an attempt to defraud or steal.

What makes it illegal?  The Texas Criminal Penal Code Sec. 32.31. CREDIT CARD OR DEBIT CARD ABUSE indicates that a person commits an offense if, with intent to obtain a benefit fraudulently, uses a credit or debit card of another to do so, or uses an expired or otherwise unauthorized card to defraud or steal.

What are the Punishments? For individuals arrested for CREDIT CARD OR DEBIT CARD ABUSE, the penalty is a state jail felony punishable by up to two years in the state prison with fines, except that the offense is a felony of the third degree if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the offense was committed against an elderly individual as defined by Section 22.04.

Common Criminal Cases Involving Theft Arrests: The most common Credit Card Abuse cases and Credit Card Abuse arrests involve using expired credit cards to purchase goods, or uses a ficticious card obtained under a false name.

TEXAS PENAL CODE, TITLE 7.  Sec. 32.31. CREDIT CARD OR DEBIT CARD ABUSE
Sec. 32.31. CREDIT CARD OR DEBIT CARD ABUSE (a) In this section: (b) A person commits an offense if: (1) with intent to obtain a benefit fraudulently, he presents or uses a credit card or debit card with knowledge that: (A) the card, whether or not expired, has not been issued to him and is not used with the effective consent of the cardholder; or (B) the card has expired or has been revoked or cancelled; (2) with intent to obtain a benefit, he uses a fictitious credit card or debit card or the pretended number or description of a fictitious card; (3) he receives a benefit that he knows has been obtained in violation of this section; (4) he steals a credit card or debit card or, with knowledge that it has been stolen, receives a credit card or debit card with intent to use it, to sell it, or to transfer it to a person other than the issuer or the cardholder; (5) he buys a credit card or debit card from a person who he knows is not the issuer; (6) not being the issuer, he sells a credit card or debit card; (7) he uses or induces the cardholder to use the cardholder's credit card or debit card to obtain property or service for the actor's benefit for which the cardholder is financially unable to pay; (8) not being the cardholder, and without the effective consent of the cardholder, he possesses a credit card or debit card with intent to use it; (9) he possesses two or more incomplete credit cards or debit cards that have not been issued to him with intent to complete them without the effective consent of the issuer. For purposes of this subdivision, a card is incomplete if part of the matter that an issuer requires to appear on the card before it can be used, other than the signature of the cardholder, has not yet been stamped, embossed, imprinted, or written on it; (10) being authorized by an issuer to furnish goods or services on presentation of a credit card or debit card, he, with intent to defraud the issuer or the cardholder, furnishes goods or services on presentation of a credit card or debit card obtained or retained in violation of this section or a credit card or debit card that is forged, expired, or revoked; or (11) being authorized by an issuer to furnish goods or services on presentation of a credit card or debit card, he, with intent to defraud the issuer or a cardholder, fails to furnish goods or services that he represents in writing to the issuer that he has furnished.
See Penalties for this Offense	Read the Full Penal Code Section

 

 

DRUG
OFFENSES