This section forbids unauthorized, fraudulent transfer or possession of access devices and related counterfeit or device-making items, and it sets penalties based on the value involved.
§70.4. Access device fraud A. No person shall without authorization and with the intent to defraud transfer an access device to another person. B. No person shall without authorization and with the intent to defraud possess an access device issued to another person. C. No person shall with the intent to defraud use, possess, or transfer device-making equipment or a counterfeit access device. D. No person shall knowingly and with the intent to defraud possess fifteen or more counterfeit or misappropriated access devices. E. As used in this Section: (1) "Access device" means a person's social security number, driver's license number, birth date, mother's maiden name, checking account numbers, savings account numbers, personal identification numbers, electronic identification numbers, digital signatures, gift card, account information related to a gift card, or other means of account access that can be used to obtain anything of value, whether contemporaneously or not. (2) "Counterfeit access device" means an access device that is fictitious, altered, or forged. (3) "Device-making equipment" means any instrumentality, mechanism, or impression designed or primarily used for making an access device or counterfeit access device. (4) "Gift card" means a card, code, or device that is issued to a consumer on a prepaid basis in a specified amount and is redeemable in exchange for goods or services. The value of the gift is either the maximum face value of the card when it is held for sale by the merchant or the actual value of the funds deposited with the merchant at the time of the activation and purchase. (5) "Transfer" means sell, give, provide, or transmit. F.(1) A person who commits the crime of access device fraud when the misappropriation or taking amounts to a value of twenty-five thousand dollars or more shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not more than twenty years, fined not more than fifty thousand dollars, or both. (2) When the misappropriation or taking amounts to a value of five thousand dollars or more, but less than a value of twenty-five thousand dollars, the offender shall be imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than ten years, fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or both. (3) When the misappropriation or taking amounts to a value of one thousand dollars or more, but less than a value of five thousand dollars, the offender shall be imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than five years, fined not more than three thousand dollars, or both. (4) When the misappropriation or taking amounts to a value of less than one thousand dollars, the offender shall be imprisoned for not more than six months, fined not more than five hundred dollars, or both. (5) Upon a third or subsequent conviction of theft, the offender shall be imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than two years, fined not more than two thousand dollars, or both. G. In addition to any other penalty imposed under this Section, the court shall order restitution as a part of the sentence in accordance with Code of Criminal Procedure Article 883.2. H. When there has been a misappropriation or taking by a number of distinct acts of the offender, the aggregate amount of the misappropriation or taking shall determine the grade of the offense. For purposes of this Subsection, distinctive acts of the offender do not have to involve the same victim. Acts 1986, No. 555, §1; Acts 1999, No. 947, §1, eff. July 9, 1999; Acts 2006, No. 143, §1; Acts 2008, No. 495, §1; Acts 2010, No. 585, §1; Acts 2017, No. 281, §1; Acts 2025, No. 28, §1.