Studies On The Problems Of Credit Card Fraud

Credit card business starts off simultaneously with the Chinese EconomicReform. As the market economy and the finance sector grows continuously overtime, the role of credit card as a convenient way of financing and payment method isplaying a very important part in our social and economic life. Along with thisgrowing credit card market, credit card related crime also runs wild with it, andcredit card fraud is one of the most common form of credit card related crime. Inrecent years, frequent credit card fraud and the large sums involved caused seriousloss as a whole. In order to fight against credit card fraud in justice practice, Chinahas successively promulgated a series of legislative and judicial interpretations.However, due to the various forms and tricks involved in credit card fraud,abstracted principles of legislations cannot fully cover all the turns and twists. As aresult, theoretical circle has many debates about credit card fraud. I believe that,while making improvements of legislation, correct understanding and interpretationof current Criminal Rules must also be established to deal with the ever worseningsituation. This paper analyses and discusses some of the main debates in thetheoretical circles and provides some inspirations for justice practices when dealingwith credit card fraud.Credit cards originated in the United States, and later grow rapidly in Chinaafter the1970s. The financial concept of credit card has evolves from general tospecific, however from reality and law practicing rules. Currently, Chinese CriminalLaw still follows the general concept of credit card in financial term. As the use ofcredit card grows ever more popular, credit card fraud poses a serious problem to ourdaily life. Credit card fraud is a crime which purposely taking possessions illegally,breaching the credit card regulations, faking or forging personal identities or invalidcredit cards, fraudulent use of personal credit card or malicious overdraft to defraudlarge sums of public or private properties. Initially Chinese Law treats credit cardfraud as general fraud crime, but later discovers the special characteristics about credit card fraud. In1997, Criminal Law separates credit card fraud from generalfraud crimes. Criminal Law Amendment (5) further complements it and formscurrent legislation.The subject of credit card fraud violates two other objects, the main object ofthe two is national credit card regulation system, and the other is the ownership ofpublic property. Constituting a credit card fraud, the subject is subjectivelyintentional and must purposely possess others’ properties illegally. The main debatesover credit card fraud in theoretical circles lay in the objective behaviour of creditcard fraud case, including the relationship between counterfeiting and modifying, theprecise definition of usage behaviour, the behaviour of forging and using a creditcard or misleading others to believe the one’s use of a valid credit card whichbelongs to a third party, the categorization of counterfeit identity proof, qualitativeruling of card alterations, recognition of “fraudulent use of virtual cards”, distinctionof malicious and general overdraft, understanding of over credit limit and paymentoverdue, the necessity of pending payment in malicious overdraft related credit cardfraud, the use of voided credit card and the scope of cardholders in maliciousoverdraft cases. On these issues, this paper comments are based on mainly currentunderstandings, and discusses the supporting and objection reasoning.Stealing or found a third party credit card and using it are the two commonscenarios in law practicing. For the former, Criminal Law should treat it as a theftcrime. For the latter, theoretical circles think it is inappropriate to pledge guilty in thename of embezzlement crime or theft crime, the credit card fraud crime in theCriminal Law Amendment (5) is more appropriate.