Ohio Code 2913.21 – Misuse of credit cards
(A) No person shall do any of the following:
Attorney's Note
Under the Ohio Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:| Class | Prison | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| Felony of the second degree | 2 years or more | up to $15,000 |
| Felony of the third degree | 9 months to 5 years | up to $10,000 |
| Felony of the fourth degree | 6 to 18 months | up to $5,000 |
| Felony of the fifth degree | 6 to 12 months | up to $2,500 |
| Misdemeanor of the first degree | up to 180 days | up to $1,000 |
Terms Used In Ohio Code 2913.21
- Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
- Credit card: includes , but is not limited to, a card, code, device, or other means of access to a customer's account for the purpose of obtaining money, property, labor, or services on credit, or for initiating an electronic fund transfer at a point-of-sale terminal, an automated teller machine, or a cash dispensing machine. See Ohio Code 2913.01
- Deception: means knowingly deceiving another or causing another to be deceived by any false or misleading representation, by withholding information, by preventing another from acquiring information, or by any other conduct, act, or omission that creates, confirms, or perpetuates a false impression in another, including a false impression as to law, value, state of mind, or other objective or subjective fact. See Ohio Code 2913.01
- Defraud: means to knowingly obtain, by deception, some benefit for oneself or another, or to knowingly cause, by deception, some detriment to another. See Ohio Code 2913.01
- Disabled adult: means a person who is eighteen years of age or older and has some impairment of body or mind that makes the person unable to work at any substantially remunerative employment that the person otherwise would be able to perform and that will, with reasonable probability, continue for a period of at least twelve months without any present indication of recovery from the impairment, or who is eighteen years of age or older and has been certified as permanently and totally disabled by an agency of this state or the United States that has the function of so classifying persons. See Ohio Code 2913.01
- Elderly person: means a person who is sixty-five years of age or older. See Ohio Code 2913.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
- Services: include labor, personal services, professional services, rental services, public utility services including wireless service as defined in division (F)(1) of section 128. See Ohio Code 2913.01
- Whoever: includes all persons, natural and artificial; partners; principals, agents, and employees; and all officials, public or private. See Ohio Code 1.02
(1) Practice deception for the purpose of procuring the issuance of a credit card, when a credit card is issued in actual reliance thereon;
(2) Knowingly buy or sell a credit card from or to a person other than the issuer;
(3) As an officer, employee, or appointee of a political subdivision or as a public servant as defined under section 2921.01 of the Revised Code, knowingly misuse a credit card account held by a political subdivision.
(B) No person, with purpose to defraud, shall do any of the following:
(1) Obtain control over a credit card as security for a debt;
(2) Obtain property or services by the use of a credit card, in one or more transactions, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the card has expired or been revoked, or was obtained, is retained, or is being used in violation of law;
(3) Furnish property or services upon presentation of a credit card, knowing that the card is being used in violation of law;
(4) Represent or cause to be represented to the issuer of a credit card that property or services have been furnished, knowing that the representation is false.
(C) No person, with purpose to violate this section, shall receive, possess, control, or dispose of a credit card.
(D)(1) Whoever violates this section is guilty of misuse of credit cards.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in division (D)(4) of this section, a violation of division (A), (B)(1), or (C) of this section is a misdemeanor of the first degree.
(3) Except as otherwise provided in this division or division (D)(4) of this section, a violation of division (B)(2), (3), or (4) of this section is a misdemeanor of the first degree. If the cumulative retail value of the property and services involved in one or more violations of division (B)(2), (3), or (4) of this section, which violations involve one or more credit card accounts and occur within a period of ninety consecutive days commencing on the date of the first violation, is one thousand dollars or more and is less than seven thousand five hundred dollars, misuse of credit cards in violation of any of those divisions is a felony of the fifth degree. If the cumulative retail value of the property and services involved in one or more violations of division (B)(2), (3), or (4) of this section, which violations involve one or more credit card accounts and occur within a period of ninety consecutive days commencing on the date of the first violation, is seven thousand five hundred dollars or more and is less than one hundred fifty thousand dollars, misuse of credit cards in violation of any of those divisions is a felony of the fourth degree. If the cumulative retail value of the property and services involved in one or more violations of division (B)(2), (3), or (4) of this section, which violations involve one or more credit card accounts and occur within a period of ninety consecutive days commencing on the date of the first violation, is one hundred fifty thousand dollars or more, misuse of credit cards in violation of any of those divisions is a felony of the third degree.
(4) If the victim of the offense is an elderly person or disabled adult, and if the offense involves a violation of division (B)(1) or (2) of this section, division (D)(4) of this section applies. Except as otherwise provided in division (D)(4) of this section, a violation of division (B)(1) or (2) of this section is a felony of the fifth degree. If the debt for which the card is held as security or the cumulative retail value of the property or services involved in the violation is one thousand dollars or more and is less than seven thousand five hundred dollars, a violation of either of those divisions is a felony of the fourth degree. If the debt for which the card is held as security or the cumulative retail value of the property or services involved in the violation is seven thousand five hundred dollars or more and is less than thirty-seven thousand five hundred dollars, a violation of either of those divisions is a felony of the third degree. If the debt for which the card is held as security or the cumulative retail value of the property or services involved in the violation is thirty-seven thousand five hundred dollars or more, a violation of either of those divisions is a felony of the second degree. In addition to any other penalty imposed under division (D)(4) of this section, the offender shall be required to pay full restitution to the victim and to pay a fine of up to fifty thousand dollars. The clerk of court shall forward all fines collected under division (D)(4) of this section to the county department of job and family services to be used for the reporting and investigation of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation or for the provision or arrangement of protective services under sections 5101.61 to 5101.71 of the Revised Code.
The Legislative Service Commission presents the text of this section as a composite of the section as amended by multiple acts of the General Assembly. This presentation recognizes the principle stated in R.C. 1.52(B) that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation.