The Federal Trade Commission reports that approximately 9 million Americans are impacted by Credit Card Fraud each year. A New York Credit Card Fraud Lawyer knows that such charges are serious and aggressively prosecuted, and the experienced team at Stephen Bilkis & Associates stands prepared to offer you free advice if you are facing such charges. We realize that, as our world becomes ever more based on the use of electronic information, crimes involving credit cards are being pursued ever more forcefully by the office of the District Attorney in New York City, on Long Island in Nassau County and Suffolk County, as well as in Westchester County.

Credit Card Fraud is defined to include a range of crimes that involve the theft of or fraudulent use of a credit card. The crime most frequently occurs when you use someone else's credit card information to make a purchase. Today this crime is very commonly associated with Computer Fraud, because fraudulent use of the Internet often involves the use of credit card numbers. And the crime can be connected to charges of Mail Fraud and Bank Fraud.

Specific forms of Credit Card Fraud include:

• Stealing a credit card.
• Using someone else's credit card without authorization, whether the card was stolen or found.
• Fraudulently acquiring a credit card through the mail, whether by illegally accessing a mailbox or by taking credit cards or credit card applications from someone's trash.
• Manufacturing counterfeit credit cards.
• Deliberately misrepresenting information on a credit card application.
• Creating a fake web site in order to gather credit card numbers.

It is important to note that you do not have to have possession of the credit card in order to commit and be charged with Credit Card Fraud. Unauthorized use of the credit card number alone constitutes this fraud. In fact, it's estimated that over half of all instances of Credit Card Fraud today happen online, by using the number only.

The penalties if you are convicted of Credit Card Fraud can include prison time of up to 10 or 20 years and/or financial retribution. Call Stephen Bilkis & Associates today at 1-800-NY-NY-Law. We will consult with you for free in any of our locations, whether in our New York City (where we have offices in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens, and in the Bronx); on Long Island in our Nassau County office or Suffolk County office; or in our Westchester County location.