U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Credit Card Protection Act - Hearings Before the House Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Coinage on HR 2885 and HR 3622 on May 23, July 6 in Sarasota Florida and July 27, 1983

NCJ Number
94097
Author(s)
Anonymous
Date Published
1983
Length
308 pages
Annotation
This transcript documents the hearings of the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Coinage on the topic of credit card protection.
Abstract
Testimony showed that of the 600 million credit cards circulating in the United States, 73 million end up lost or stolen each year. Although no firm figures exist, the entire loss of illegally used credit cards approached $1 billion in 1982. The Credit Card Protectin Act, the subject initially under discussion, would increase penalties for this crime. An anonymous witness, who was a credit card criminal who turned police informant after serving time explained how credit card fraud occurs. Other testimony focused on the wide availability of credit cards and how this contributes to the problem. The case of Credit Marketing Inc. (CMI) illustrates what can happen with easily distributed credit card numbers. A final hearing took the testimony of concerned business executives and law officials. Most of the testimony was in support of the proposed Credit Card Protection Act. Ten parties submitted additional material to the subcommittee, and letters from CMI are included as exhibits.