2023 Connecticut General Statutes › Title 53a - Penal Code › Chapter 952 - Penal Code: Offenses › Section 53a-128c. - Payment card theft. Illegal transfer. Fraud. Forgery.

(a) Any person who takes a payment card from the person, possession, custody or control of another without the consent of the cardholder or of the issuer or who, with knowledge that it has been so taken, receives the payment card with intent to use it or to sell it, or to transfer it to any person other than the issuer or the cardholder is guilty of payment card theft and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (a) of section 53a-128i. Taking a payment card without consent includes obtaining it by conduct defined or known as statutory larceny, common law larceny by trespassory taking, common law larceny by trick, embezzlement, or obtaining property by false pretense, false promise or extortion.
(b) Any person who receives a payment card that such person knows to have been lost, mislaid, or delivered under a mistake as to the identity or address of the cardholder, and who retains possession, custody or control thereof with intent to use it or to sell it or to transfer it to any person other than the issuer or the cardholder, is guilty of payment card theft and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (a) of section 53a-128i.
(c) Any person other than the issuer who sells a payment card or any person who buys a payment card from a person other than the issuer violates this subsection and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (a) of section 53a-128i.
(d) Any person who, with intent to defraud the issuer, a participating party, or a person providing money, goods, services or anything else of value, or any other person, obtains control over a payment card as security for debt violates this subsection and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (a) of section 53a-128i.
(e) Any person, other than the issuer, who, during any twelve-month period, receives payment cards issued in the names of two or more persons which such person has reason to know were taken or retained under circumstances which constitute payment card theft or a violation of section 53a-128b or subsection (c) or (d) of this section violates this subsection and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (b) of section 53a-128i.
(f) Any person who, with intent to defraud a purported issuer, a participating party, or a person providing money, goods, services or anything else of value, or any other person, falsely makes or falsely embosses a purported payment card or falsely loads or causes to be falsely loaded a payment card into a digital wallet or utters such a payment card is guilty of payment card forgery and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (b) of section 53a-128i. A person “falsely makes” a payment card when such person makes or draws, in whole or in part, a device or instrument which purports to be the payment card of a named issuer but which is not such a payment card because the issuer did not authorize the making or drawing, or when such person so alters a payment card which was validly issued. A person “falsely embosses” a payment card when, without the authorization of the named issuer, such person completes a payment card by adding any of the matter, other than the signature of the cardholder, which an issuer requires to appear on the payment card before it can be used by a cardholder. A person “falsely loads” or “causes to be falsely loaded” a payment card into a digital wallet when such person stores or causes to be stored on a digital wallet the digital form of (1) a payment card falsely made or falsely embossed by such person, (2) a payment card taken, procured, received or retained by such person under circumstances that constitute a violation of this section or section 53a-128b, or (3) a payment card that such person knows is falsely made, falsely embossed, forged, expired or revoked.
(g) Any person other than the cardholder or any person authorized by the cardholder who, with intent to defraud the issuer, a participating party, or a person providing money, goods, services or anything else of value, or any other person, signs a payment card, violates this subsection and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (a) of section 53a-128i.
(1971, P.A. 871, S. 31; P.A. 17-26, S. 3.)
History: P.A. 17-26 replaced references to credit card with references to payment card, amended Subsec. (f) by adding provision re person who falsely loads or causes to be falsely loaded payment card into digital wallet and adding provision re “falsely loading” and “causes to be falsely loaded”, and made technical changes.
Cited. 37 CS 527.