2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 14 - Crimes
Chapter 117 - Credit Cards
§ 3003. Theft—Obtaining credit card through fraudulent means
(a) Theft by taking or retaining possession of card taken. A person who takes a credit card from the person, possession, custody or control of another without the cardholder's consent or who, with knowledge that it has been so taken, receives the credit card with intent to use it, to sell it or to transfer it to a person other than the issuer or the cardholder is guilty of credit card theft and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (a) of section 3010 of this chapter. Taking a credit card without consent includes obtaining it by conduct defined or known as statutory larceny, common law by trespassery taking, common law larceny by trick or embezzlement or obtaining property by false pretense, false promise or extortion.
(b) Theft of credit card lost, mislaid or delivered by mistake. A person who receives a credit card that he knows to have been lost, mislaid or delivered under a mistake as to the identity or address of the cardholder and who retains possession with intent to use it, sell it or to transfer it to a person other than the issuer or the cardholder is guilty of credit card theft and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (a) of section 3010 of this chapter.
(c) Purchase or sale of credit card of another. A person other than the issuer who sells a credit card or a person who buys a credit card from a person other than the issuer violates this subsection and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (a) of section 3010 of this chapter.
(d) Obtaining control of credit card as security for debt. A person who, with intent to defraud the issuer, a person or organization providing money, goods, services or anything else of value or any other person, obtains control over a credit card as security for debt violates this subsection and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (a) of section 3010 of this chapter.
(e) Dealing in credit cards of another. A person other than the issuer who, during any twelve (12) month period receives two (2) or more credit cards issued in the name or names of different cardholders, which he has reason to know were taken or retained under circumstances which constitute credit card theft or a violation of this law violates this subsection and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (b) of section 3010 of this chapter.
(f) Forgery of credit card. A person who, with intent to defraud a purported issuer or a person or organization providing money, goods, services or anything else of value or any other person, falsely makes or embosses a purported credit card or alters such a credit card is guilty of credit card forgery, and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (b) of section 3010 of this chapter. A person other than the purported issuer who possesses two (2) or more credit cards which are falsely made or falsely embossed is presumed to have violated this subsection. A person falsely makes a credit card when he makes or draws in whole or in part a device or instrument which purports to be the credit card of a named issuer but which is not such a credit card because the issuer did not authorize the making or drawing, or alters a credit card which was validly issued. A person falsely embosses a credit card when, without the authorization of the named issuer, he completes a credit card by adding any matter of substance, other than the signature of the cardholder, which an issuer requires to appear on the credit card before it can be used by a cardholder.
(g) Signing credit card of another. A person other than the cardholder or a person authorized by him who, with intent to defraud the issuer or a person or organization providing money, goods, services or anything else of value or any other person, signs a credit card violates this subsection and is subject to the penalties set forth in subsection (a) of section 3010 of this chapter.
