COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4104
(By Delegates Morgan, Kominar, Mahan,
Stemple, Craig, Amores and Staton)
(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[January 28, 2004]
A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-3-56, relating to
creating the felony crime of scanning device or reencoder
fraud; providing definitions; and establishing criminal
penalties.
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) "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.
(2) "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.
(3) "Payment card" means a credit card, charge card, debit
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) "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.
(b) Any person who uses:
(1) 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 felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than two-thousand five
hundred dollars or imprisoned in a state correctional facility not less than one year, or both fined and imprisoned.
(2) 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 felony
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than two-
thousand five hundred dollars or imprisoned in a state correctional
facility not less than one year, or both fined and imprisoned.
(c) Any person who violates the provisions of this section a
second or subsequent time is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one thousand nor
more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned in a state
correctional facility not less than one nor more than ten years, or
both fined and imprisoned.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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