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Card fraudsters land jail terms

By Wang Jingqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-16 07:43

Six convicted criminals were jailed seven to 11 years on charges of credit card fraud yesterday in Beijing.

The verdict by Xicheng district court in Beijing said Chen ZhengTian Fuhao, Gao Zhigang, Zhuang Yan, Liang Shuai and Liu Wenbo forged foreign credit cards and deposited more than 1.4 million yuan ($205,000) from Nov 6 to 29, 2008.

They violated the Criminal Law by forging credit cards and withdrawing cash, and are liable for criminal penalties, the verdict said.

With such cases becoming more popular, China yesterday also announced punishment standards against credit card related crimes in a bid to fight "increasingly rampant" frauds.

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) yesterday announced a judicial interpretation that clarifies several Criminal Law articles concerning credit card fraud. The interpretation becomes effective today.

Xiong Xuanguo, vice-president of the SPC, said credit card fraud has been on the rise in recent years as bank card services expanded rapidly in China.

"Card fraud, such as using a fake ID to apply for a card or withdrawing a large amount of money with fake cards, has become so rampant that it even develops as an industry," Xiong told a State Council Information Office press briefing yesterday.

Offenders could face more than 10 years in jail or even life imprisonment, as well as a fine as high as 500,000 yuan, if a case involves more than 25 fake credit cards, according to the legal document.

Card users could be charged for "malicious overdraft", which means someone intentionally overdrafts and delays payment three months after the second notice from the bank arrives.

"If the cardholder pays all the money back before the hearing, the court will consider a light punishment or an exempt penalty," said Sun Qian, vice-procuratorate of SPP.

According to Sun, China has become the country with the most bank card users. By end September, more than 2 billion bank cards had been issued in China, with 34 percent of consumption paid by cards.

But risks with credit cards have also been rising, with some criminals committing frauds using high-tech methods.

"The crimes are becoming more organized and specialized," Sun said.

Latest figures from the People's Bank of China show that by the end of September, banks nationwide had issued 175 million credit cards, up 33 percent over the same period last year.