What Are the Penalties for Credit Card Theft?
Credit card theft is usually a violation of state law and penalties vary credit card image by feisty from Fotolia.com The most common type of identity theft involves the theft of credit cards. Criminals steal credit card numbers with the intent to commit identity fraud, typically for economic gain, according to the United States Department of Justice website. Credit card theft, identity fraud and identity theft are similar crimes in that a person’s personal data is wrongfully used in a deceptive or fraudulent manner. The penalties for such crimes are set both at the federal level and the state level, where they vary from state to state. Federal Statutes A variety of federal statutes exist dealing with the prosecution of identity theft and fraud which can involve credit card theft. In 1998 congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act, according to the justice.gov website. This established identity theft as a criminal felony offense under applicable local or state law
