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House Bill 4104 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4104
(By Delegates Morgan, Kominar, Mahan,
Stemple, Craig, Amores and Staton)
[Passed March 11, 2004; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-3-56, relating to
creating the crimes of scanning device and reencoder fraud;
providing definitions; and establishing criminal penalties
therefor.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §61-3-56
, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 3. CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY.
§61-3-56. Scanning device or reencoder fraud; felony; definitions;
and penalties.
(a) As used in this section, the term:
(1) "Authorized user" means the person to whom a payment card
is issued or any other person acting with the permission of the
person to whom the card is issued;
(2) "Merchant" means an owner or operator of any retail mercantile establishment or any agent, employee, lessee, consignee,
officer, director, franchisee or independent contractor of the
owner or operator. A "merchant" also means a person who receives
from an authorized user of a payment card, or someone the person
believes to be an authorized user, a payment card or information
from a payment card, or what the person believes to be a payment
card or information from a payment card, as the instrument for
obtaining, purchasing or receiving goods, services, money or
anything else of value from the person;
(3) "Payment card" means a credit card, charge card, debit
card, hotel key card, stored value card or any other card that is
issued to an authorized card user and that allows the user to
obtain, purchase or receive goods, services, money or anything else
of value from a merchant;
(4) "Reencoder" means an electronic device that places encoded
information from the magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card
onto the magnetic strip or stripe of a different payment card; and
(5) "Scanning device" means a scanner, reader or any other
electronic device that is used to access, read, scan, obtain,
memorize or store, temporarily or permanently, information encoded
on the magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card.
(b) Any person who uses a scanning device to access, read,
obtain, memorize or store, temporarily or permanently, information
encoded on the magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card without
the permission of the authorized user of the payment card and with
the intent to defraud the authorized user, the issuer of the authorized user's payment card or a merchant is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more
than two thousand five hundred dollars or confined in a county or
regional jail for not more than one year, or both.
(c) Any person who uses a reencoder to place information
encoded on the magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card onto the
magnetic strip or stripe of a different card without the permission
of the authorized user of the card from which the information is
being reencoded and with the intent to defraud the authorized user,
the issuer of the authorized user's payment card or a merchant is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not more than two thousand five hundred dollars or confined
in a county or regional jail not more than one year, or both.
(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (b) and (c)
of this section, any person who is convicted of the provisions of
subsection (b) or (c) of this section who has previously been
convicted of a violation of either subsection shall be guilty of a
felony and, upon conviction, shall be imprisoned in a state
correctional facility for not less than one nor more than three
years or fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both.
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