2023 New York Laws › PEN - Penal › Part 3 - Specific Offenses › Title K - Offenses Involving Fraud › Article 170 - Forgery and Related Offenses › 170.00 - Forgery; Definitions of Terms.

§ 170.00 Forgery; definitions of terms.
1.  "Written  instrument"  means  any instrument or article, including
  computer data or a  computer  program,  containing  written  or  printed
  matter  or  the  equivalent  thereof,  used for the purpose of reciting,
  embodying, conveying or recording information, or constituting a  symbol
  or  evidence  of  value,  right,  privilege  or identification, which is
  capable of being used to the advantage or disadvantage of  some  person.
  For  the  purposes  of  this  article,  a card provided to a person by a
  vaccine provider indicating the date a  person  received  a  vaccination
  against  COVID-19, the type of vaccine and its lot number, and bearing a
  government logo or other indication that it is created by a governmental
  instrumentality, shall be considered a written instrument.
2. "Complete written instrument" means one  which  purports  to  be  a
  genuine  written  instrument fully drawn with respect to every essential
  feature thereof. An endorsement, attestation,  acknowledgment  or  other
  similar  signature  or  statement  is  deemed  both  a  complete written
  instrument in itself and a part of the main instrument in  which  it  is
  contained or to which it attaches.
3.  "Incomplete  written  instrument"  means  one  which contains some
  matter by way of content or authentication but which requires additional
  matter in order to render it a complete written instrument.
4. "Falsely make." A person "falsely makes" a written instrument  when
  he  makes  or draws a complete written instrument in its entirety, or an
  incomplete  written  instrument,  which  purports  to  be  an  authentic
  creation of its ostensible maker or drawer, but which is not such either
  because  the  ostensible  maker  or  drawer is fictitious or because, if
  real, he did not authorize the making or drawing thereof.
5.  "Falsely  complete."  A  person  "falsely  completes"  a   written
  instrument  when, by adding, inserting or changing matter, he transforms
  an incomplete written  instrument  into  a  complete  one,  without  the
  authority  of  anyone  entitled  to  grant  it,  so  that  such complete
  instrument appears or purports  to  be  in  all  respects  an  authentic
  creation of or fully authorized by its ostensible maker or drawer.
6.  "Falsely  alter."  A  person "falsely alters" a written instrument
  when, without the authority of anyone entitled to grant it, he changes a
  written instrument, whether it be in complete  or  incomplete  form,  by
  means  of  erasure,  obliteration,  deletion,  insertion  of new matter,
  transposition of matter, or in any other manner, so that such instrument
  in its thus altered form appears or purports to be in  all  respects  an
  authentic  creation  of  or  fully authorized by its ostensible maker or
  drawer.
7. "Forged instrument" means  a  written  instrument  which  has  been
  falsely made, completed or altered.
8.  "Electronic access device" means a mobile identification number or
  electronic serial number that can be used to obtain telephone service.