Criminal Code

Marginal note:Theft, forgery, etc., of credit card

• 342 (1) Every person who

  • (a) steals a credit card,

  • (b) forges or falsifies a credit card,

  • (c) possesses, uses or traffics in a credit card or a forged or falsified credit card, knowing that it was obtained, made or altered

    • (i) by the commission in Canada of an offence, or

    • (ii) by an act or omission anywhere that, if it had occurred in Canada, would have constituted an offence, or

  • (d) uses a credit card knowing that it has been revoked or cancelled,

  is guilty of

  • (e) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or

  • (f) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Jurisdiction

  (2) An accused who is charged with an offence under subsection (1) may be tried and punished by any court having jurisdiction to try that offence in the place where the offence is alleged to have been committed or in the place where the accused is found, is arrested or is in custody, but where the place where the accused is found, is arrested or is in custody is outside the province in which the offence is alleged to have been committed, no proceedings in respect of that offence shall be commenced in that place without the consent of the Attorney General of that province.

• Marginal note:Unauthorized use of credit card data

  (3) Every person who, fraudulently and without colour of right, possesses, uses, traffics in or permits another person to use credit card data, including personal authentication information, whether or not the data is authentic, that would enable a person to use a credit card or to obtain the services that are provided by the issuer of a credit card to credit card holders is guilty of

  • (a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years; or

  • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Definitions

  (4) In this section,

  personal authentication information

  personal authentication information means a personal identification number or any other password or information that a credit card holder creates or adopts to be used to authenticate his or her identity in relation to the credit card; (authentifiant personnel)

  traffic

  traffic means, in relation to a credit card or credit card data, to sell, export from or import into Canada, distribute or deal with in any other way.  (trafic)