CHAPTER 194
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 3, TITLE 11, DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE FRAUDULENT USE OF CREDIT CARDS, CODES, FALSE STATEMENTS AND DEVICES.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware (two-thirds of all the Members elected to each House concurring therein):
Section 1. Chapter 3, Title 11, Delaware Code, is amended by adding the following Section:
§ 558. Fraudulent use of credit cards, codes, false statements or devices
(a) The term "persons" shall mean an individual, whether or not of legal age, or a partnership, or an association, or a corporation, and any employee, agent, director, or officer thereof.
The term "credit card" shall mean any identification card, number, or other identification device, or any document, plate, coupon, or book, issued or given to any person by a person engaged in business, so as to enable such person or his agent or employee to acquire or obtain money, goods, personal property or services upon a promise to pay in part or in full therefor at a future time, whether or not all or any part of the indebtedness represented by such promise to make deferred payment is secured or unsecured.
(b) Any person who knowingly uses or attempts to use, or aids and abets another in using, for the purpose of obtaining credit or for the acquisition of money, goods, property or services, including but not limited to telecommunication service, or the transmission of a message, signal or other communication by telecommunication or over telecommunications facilities, (i) a credit card which has not been issued, or (ii) a credit card which is not used with the consent of the person to whom such credit card was issued, or (iii) a revoked credit card, or (iv) a credit card which has expired, or (v) a credit card which is altered, or (vi) a counterfeit or false instrument purporting to be a credit card, shall upon conviction thereof, if the amount of the credit obtained by such use does not exceed fifty dollars ($50), be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100), or imprisonment for not more than thirty (30) days, or both, or if the credit obtained by such use exceeds fifty dollars ($50), then such person shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100), nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), or imprisonment for not more than one (1) year or both.
(c) Any person, who is authorized by a person engaged in business which issues credit cards to furnish goods or services on credit upon presentation of a credit card by the person to whom it was issued and who with the intent to defraud an issuer of credit cards or any person to whom a credit card has been issued, furnishes goods, services, or anything of value, upon presentation of an unissued, or expired, or revoked or altered credit card, or without presentation of a credit card, or upon presentation of a credit card which is not being used with the consent of the person to whom it was issued, shall upon summary conviction thereof, if the amount of the credit obtained by such use does not exceed fifty dollars ($50), be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100), or imprisonment for not more than thirty (30) days, or, if the credit obtained by such use exceeds fifty dollars ($50), then such person shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100), nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), or imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or both.
(d) Any person, who with the intent to defraud, or to aid and abet another to defraud, any person of the lawful charge, in whole or in part, for any telecommunications service, shall obtain, or attempt to obtain, or aid and abet another to obtain, or to attempt to obtain, any telecommunications service, (i) by charging such service to an existing telephone number without the authority of the subscriber thereto or the legitimate holder thereof, or (ii) by charging such service to a non-existent, false, fictitious, or counterfeit telephone number, or to a suspended, terminated, expired, canceled, or revoked telephone number, or (iii) by use of a code, prearranged scheme, or other similar stratagem or device, whereby said person in effect sends or receives information, or (iv) by installing, rearranging or tampering with any facilities or equipment, whether physically, inductively, accoustically or electronically, or (v) by any other trick, stratagem, impersonation, false pretense, false representation, false statement, contrivance, device, or means, shall upon summary conviction thereof, if the charge for the service obtained or attempted to be obtained by such use does not exceed fifty dollars ($50), be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100), or to undergo imprisonment for not more than thirty (30) days, or both, or if the charge for the service obtained or attempted to be obtained by such use exceeds fifty dollars ($50), then such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100), nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), or imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or both.
(e) The offenses for which penalties are provided herein shall not be exclusive but shall be in addition to existing offenses provided by law.
Approved September 9, 1961.