(A) A person is guilty of criminal possession of financial transaction card forgery devices when:

(1) he is a person other than the cardholder and possesses two or more incomplete financial transaction cards, with intent to complete them without the consent of the issuer;

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 16-14-70

  • Cardholder: means the person or organization named on the face of a financial transaction card to whom or for whose benefit the financial transaction card is issued by an issuer. See South Carolina Code 16-14-10
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. Source: OCC
  • issuer: means the business organization or financial institution or its duly authorized agent which issues a financial transaction card. See South Carolina Code 16-14-10

(2) he possesses, with knowledge of its character, machinery, plates, or any other contrivance designed to reproduce instruments purporting to be financial transaction cards of an issuer who has not consented to the preparation of such financial transaction cards.

(B) A financial transaction card is incomplete if part of the matter other than the signature of the cardholder, which an issuer requires to appear on the financial transaction card before it can be used by a cardholder, has not yet been stamped, embossed, imprinted, encoded, or written upon it.

A person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined not less than three thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.