AN ACT CONCERNING ILLEGAL ACCESS DEVICES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2006) As used in section 2 of this act:

(1) "Access device" means any card, plate, code, account number, electronic serial number, mobile identification number, personal identification number or other telecommunication service, equipment or instrument identifier, card-reading device, scanning device, encoder or any other means of account access that can be used alone or in conjunction with another access device to obtain money, credit, goods, services, property, medical information or any other thing of value of another person, except for a transfer of funds originated solely by paper instrument.

(2) "Counterfeit access device" means any access device or identifiable component thereof that is forged, fictitious or altered.

(3) "Unauthorized access device" means any access device that is lost, stolen, expired, revoked, cancelled or obtained with intent to defraud.

(4) "Produces" includes designing, altering, authenticating, duplicating or assembling.

(5) "Traffic" means to transfer to another, or to obtain with the intent to transfer or dispose of.

(6) "Device making equipment" means any equipment, mechanism, or impression designed or primarily used for making an access device or counterfeit access device.

(7) "Credit card system member" means the credit card issuer or a financial institution or other entity affiliated with the credit card issuer.

(8) "Scanning receiver" means any device or apparatus that can be used to intercept a wire or electronic communication.

Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2006) (a) A person is guilty of illegal possession of an access device when, (1) knowingly and with intent to defraud or commit identity theft, as defined in section 53a-129a of the general statutes, the person produces, has custody of or traffics in one or more (A) counterfeit access devices, (B) unauthorized access devices, (C) device making equipment, (D) scanning receivers, or (E) hardware or software used for altering or modifying telecommunications instruments in order to obtain unauthorized access to telecommunications services, or (2) knowingly and with intent to defraud, the person presents for payment one or more records of transactions made by the access device to the credit card system member for payment.

(b) Illegal possession of an access device is a class D felony for which the minimum fine imposed shall be five thousand dollars or twice the value obtained by the offense, whichever is greater.

Statement of Purpose:

To make the possession or fabrication of access devices used to commit identity theft illegal.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]