Current StatusView additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.Bill Number: 3323 Ratification Number: 497 Act Number 427 Introducing Body: House Subject: Financial Transaction Card Crime Act
(A427, R497, H3323)
AN ACT TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING CHAPTER 14 TO TITLE 16, SO AS TO ENACT THE "FINANCIAL TRANSACTION CARD CRIME ACT" AND PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS; AND TO REPEAL SECTIONS 16-13-270 AND 16-13-280, RELATING TO THE FRAUDULENT USE OF CREDIT CARDS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
Financial Transaction Card Crime Act
Section 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding Chapter 14 to Title 16 which shall read:
"Chapter 14
Financial Transaction Card Crime Act
Section 16-14-10. The following words and phrases as used in this chapter, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, shall have the following meanings:
(1) 'Automated banking device' means any machine which when properly activated by a financial transaction card or personal identification code may be used for any of the purposes for which a financial transaction card may be used.
(2) 'Cardholder' means the person or organization named on the face of a financial transaction card to whom or for whose benefit the financial transaction card is issued by an issuer.
(3) 'Expired financial transaction card' means a financial transaction card which is no longer valid because the term shown on it has elapsed.
(4) 'Financial transaction card' or 'FTC' means any instrument or device whether known as a credit card, credit plate, bank services card, banking card, check guarantee card, debit card, or by any other name, issued with or without fee by an issuer for the use of the cardholder;
(a) in obtaining money, goods, services, or anything else of value on credit;
(b) in certifying or guaranteeing to a person or business the availability to the cardholder of funds on deposit that are equal to or greater than the amount necessary to honor a draft or check payable to the order of such person or business;
(c) in providing the cardholder access to a demand deposit account or time deposit account for the purpose of:
1. making deposits of money or checks therein;
2. withdrawing funds in the form of money, money orders, or traveler's checks therefrom;
3. transferring funds from any demand deposit account or time deposit account to any other demand deposit account or time deposit account;
4. transferring funds from any demand deposit account or time deposit account to any credit card accounts, overdraft privilege accounts, loan accounts, or any other credit accounts in full or partial satisfaction of any outstanding balance owed existing therein;
5. for the purchase of goods, services or anything else of value;
6. obtaining information pertaining to any demand deposit account or time deposit account.
(5) 'Issuer' means the business organization or financial institution or its duly authorized agent which issues a financial transaction card.
(6) 'Personal identification code' means a numeric or alphabetical code assigned to the cardholder of a financial transaction card by the issuer to permit authorized electronic use of that FTC.
(7) 'Presenting' means those actions taken by a cardholder or any person to introduce a financial transaction card into an automated banking device, including utilization of a personal identification code, or merely displaying or showing a financial transaction card to the issuer, or to any person or organization providing money, goods, services, or anything else of value, or any other entity with intent to defraud.
(8) 'Receives' or 'receiving' means acquiring possession or control or accepting a financial transaction card as security for a loan.
(9) 'Revoked financial transaction card' means a financial transaction card which is no longer valid because permission to use it has been suspended or terminated by the issuer.
Section 16-14-20. (a) A person is guilty of financial transaction card theft when:
(1) He takes, obtains or withholds a financial transaction card from the person, possession, custody or control of another without the cardholder's consent and with the intent to use it; or who, with knowledge that it has been so taken, obtained or withheld, receives the financial transaction card with intent to use it or to sell it, or to transfer it to a person other than the issuer or the cardholder;
(2) He receives a financial transaction card that he knows to have been lost, mislaid, or delivered under a mistake as to the identity or address of the cardholder, and who retains possession with intent to use it or to sell it or to transfer it to a person other than the issuer or the cardholder;
(3) He, not being the issuer, sells a financial transaction card or buys a financial transaction card from a person other than the issuer;
(4) He, not being the issuer, during any twelve-month period, receives financial transaction cards issued in the names of two or more persons which he has reason to know were taken or retained under circumstances which constitute a violation of Section 16-14-60(a) (3) and subdivision (3) of subsection (a) of this section.
(b) Taking, obtaining or withholding a financial transaction card without consent is included in conduct defined as grand larceny.
Conviction of financial transaction card theft is punishable as provided in Section 16-14-100(b).
Section 16-14-30. When a person has in his possession or under his control financial transaction cards issued in the names of two or more other persons other than members of his immediate family, such possession shall be prima facie evidence that such financial transaction cards have been obtained in violation of Section 16-14-20(a)
Section 16-14-40. (a) A person is guilty of financial transaction card forgery when:
(1) With intent to defraud a purported issuer, a person or organization providing money, goods, services or anything else of value, or any other person, he falsely makes or falsely embosses a purported financial transaction card or utters such a financial transaction card;
(2) With intent to defraud a purported issuer, a person or organization providing money, goods, services or anything else of value, or any other person, he falsely encodes, duplicates or alters existing encoded information on a financial transaction card or utters such a financial transaction card;
(3) He, not being the cardholder or a person authorized by him with intent to defraud the issuer, or a person or organization providing money, goods, services or anything else of value, or any other person, signs a financial transaction card.
(b) A person falsely makes a financial transaction card when he makes or draws, in whole or in part, a device or instrument which purports to be the financial transaction card of a named issuer but which is not such a financial transaction card because the issuer did not authorize the making or drawing, or alters a financial transaction card which was validly issued.
(c) A person falsely embosses a financial transaction card when, without authorization of the named issuer, he completes a financial transaction card by adding any of the matter, other than the signature of the cardholder, which an issuer requires to appear on the financial transaction card before it can be used by a cardholder.
(d) A person falsely encodes a financial transaction card when, without authorization of the purported issuer, he records magnetically, electronically, electro-magnetically or by any other means whatsoever, information on a financial transaction card which will permit acceptance of that card by any automated banking device. Conviction of financial transaction card forgery shall be punishable as provided in Section 16-14-100(b).
Section 16-14-50. (a) When a person, other than the purported issuer, possesses two or more financial transaction cards which are falsely made or falsely embossed, such possession shall be prima facie evidence that such cards were detained in violation of Section 16-14-40(a) (1) or Section 16-14-40(a)(2).
(b) When a person, other than the cardholder or a person authorized by him possesses two or more financial transaction cards which are signed, such possession shall be prima facie evidence that such cards were obtained in violation of Section 16-14-40(a)(3).
Section 16-14-60. (a) A person is guilty of financial transaction card fraud when, with intent to defraud the issuer, a person or organization providing money, goods, services or anything else of value, or any other person, he
(1) uses for the purpose of obtaining money, goods, services or anything else of value a financial transaction card obtained or retained, or which was received with knowledge that it was obtained or retained, in violation of Section 16-14-20 or Section 16-14-40 or a financial transaction card which he knows is forged, altered, expired, revoked or was obtained as a result of a fraudulent application in violation of Section 16-14-40(c);
(2) obtains money, goods, services, or anything else of value by:
a. representing without the consent of the specified cardholder that he has permission to use it;
b. presenting the financial transaction card without the authorization or permission of the cardholder;
c. representing that he is the holder of a card and such card has not in fact been issued;
d. using a financial transaction card to knowingly and willfully exceed:
1. the actual balance of a demand deposit account or time deposit account;
2. an authorized credit line in an amount which exceeds
such authorized credit line in the amount of five hundred dollars or fifty percent of such authorized credit line, whichever is greater, if the cardholder shall not have paid to the issuer of the financial transaction card the total amount of the excess over the authorized credit line within ten days after notice to the cardholder by certified mail to the last known address that such credit line has been so exceeded. Failure to pay the amount in excess of the authorized credit line after such notice shall be prima facie evidence of an intent to defraud;
(3) obtains control over a financial transaction card as security for debt;
(4) deposits into his account or any account, by means of an automated banking device, a false, fictitious, forged, altered or counterfeit check, draft, money order, or any other such document not his lawful or legal property;
(5) receives money, goods, services or anything else of value as a result of a false, fictitious, forged, altered or counterfeit check, draft, money order or any other such document having been deposited into an account via an automated banking device, knowing at the time of receipt of the money, goods, services, or item of value that the document so deposited was false, fictitious, forged, altered or counterfeit or that the above deposited item was not his lawful or legal property.
(b) A person who is authorized By an issuer to furnish money, goods, services or anything else of value upon presentation of a financial transaction card by the cardholder, or any agent or employee of such person is guilty of a financial transaction card fraud when, with intent to defraud the issuer or the cardholder, he
(1) furnishes money, goods, services or anything else of value upon presentation of a financial transaction card obtained or retained in violation of Section 16-14-20, or a financial transaction card which he knows is forged, expired or revoked;
(2) fails to furnish money, goods, services or anything else of value which he represents in writing to the issuer that he has furnished.
Conviction of financial transaction card fraud as provided in such sections (a) or (b) of this section is punishable as provided in Section 16-14-100(a) if the value of all money, goods, services and other things of value furnished in violation of this section, or if the difference between the value actually furnished and the value represented to the issuer to have been furnished in violation of this section does not exceed five hundred dollars in any six-month period. Conviction of financial transaction card fraud as provided in subsections (a) or (b) of this section is punishable as provided in Section 16-14-100(b) if such value exceeds five hundred dollars in any six-month period. Conviction of financial transaction card fraud as provided in subsection (a) (2) d of this section is punishable as provided in Section 16-14-100(a).
(c) A person is guilty of financial transaction card fraud when, upon application for a financial transaction card to an issuer, he knowingly makes or causes to be made a false statement or report relative to his name, occupation, financial condition, assets, or liabilities or willfully and substantially overvalues any assets, or willfully omits or substantially undervalues any indebtedness for the purpose of influencing the issuer to issue a financial transaction card. Conviction of financial transaction card fraud as provided in this subsection is punishable as provided in Section 16-14-100(a).
(d) A cardholder is guilty of financial transaction card fraud when he willfully, knowingly, and with an intent to defraud the issuer, a person or organization providing money, goods, services, or anything else of value, or any other person, submits, verbally or in writing, to the issuer or any other person, any false notice or report of the theft, loss, disappearance, or nonreceipt of his financial transaction card. Conviction of financial transaction card fraud as provided in this subsection is punishable as provided in Section 16-14-100(a).
(e) In any prosecution for violation of Section 16-14-60, the State is not required to establish and it is no defense that some of the acts constituting the crime did not occur in this State or within one city, county, or local jurisdiction.
(f) For purposes of this section, revocation shall be construed to include either notice given in person or notice given in writing to the person to whom the financial transaction card or personal identification code was issued. Notice of revocation shall be immediate when notice is given in person. The sending of a notice in writing by registered or certified mail in the United States mail, duly stamped and addressed to such person at his last address known to the issuer, shall be prima facie evidence that such notice was duly received after seven days from the date of the deposit in the mail. If the address is located outside the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone and Canada, notice shall be presumed to have been received ten days after mailing by registered or certified mail.
Section 16-14-70. (a) A person is guilty of criminal possession of financial transaction card forgery devices when:
(1) he is a person other than the cardholder and possesses two or more incomplete financial transaction cards, with intent to complete them without the consent of the issuer;
(2) he possesses, with knowledge of its character, machinery, plates, or any other contrivance designed to reproduce instruments purporting to be financial transaction cards of an issuer who has not consented to the preparation of such financial transaction cards.
(b) A financial transaction card is incomplete if part of the matter other than the signature of the cardholder, which an issuer requires to appear on the financial transaction card before it can be used by a cardholder, has not yet been stamped, embossed, imprinted, encoded or written upon it.
Conviction of criminal possession of financial transaction card forgery devices is punishable as provided in Section 16-14-100(b).
Section 16-14-80. A person is guilty of criminally receiving goods and services fraudulently obtained when he receives money, goods, services or anything else of value obtained in violation of Section 16-14-60(a) with the knowledge or belief that the same were obtained in violation of Section 16-14-60(a). Conviction of criminal receipt of goods and services fraudulently obtained is punishable as provided in Section 16-14-100(a) if the value of all the money, goods, services and anything else of value, obtained in violation of this section, does not exceed five hundred dollars in any six-month period; conviction of criminal receipt of goods and services fraudulently obtained is punishable as provided in Section 16-14-100(b) if such value exceeds five hundred dollars in any six-month period.
Section 16-14-90. A person who obtains at a discount price a ticket issued by an airline, railroad, steamship or other transportation company from other than an authorized agent of such company which was acquired in violation of Section 16-14-60(a) without reasonable inquiry to ascertain that the person from whom it was obtained had a legal right to possess it shall be presumed to know that such ticket was acquired under circumstances constituting a violation of Section 16-14-60(a).
Section 16-14-100. (a) A crime punishable under this subsection is a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.
(b) A crime punishable under this subsection is a felony and upon conviction shall be punishable by a fine of not less than three thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars or imprisonment for not more than three years, or both."
Repeal
Section 2. Sections 16-13-270 and 16-13-280 of the 1976 Code are repealed.
Time effective
Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 1980.