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what should be the criminal penalty for placing a "skimmer" in a gas pump

What should be the penalty for credit card "skimming"

  • State law felony-with mandatory jail time

    Votes: 9 40.9%

  • State law Misdemeanor or felony-no mandatory jail time

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Federal felony with mandatory prison time

    Votes: 8 36.4%

  • Option 1-3 with full restitution

    Votes: 11 50.0%

  • Other-explain

    Votes: 1 4.5%
  • Total voters
    22
TurtleDude

TurtleDude

warrior of the wetlands
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Lately, our local news has numerous stories of people illegally placing "skimmers" in credit card readers at Gas Stations to steal credit card numbers (or worse-to drain the bank accounts of those using debit cards). what do you think the penalty should be?

I believe any such action should be at minimum a felony offense and since credit card fraud -due to "interstate commerce" can be a federal offense, skimming should be as well with a point added to the offense level for each card hacked meaning the penalty could be in the 300 month range if someone skims several dozen cards.

I think its time to really crush people who do this sort of stuff and give them really hard time
 
Should be 1-3 years in county with no priors. With priors, you may really be up s*** creek. Judge should also use discretion on the dollar amount defrauded.

I don't think the judge should suspend a jail term, contingent on probation. That's some pretty heavy duty thieving if you ask me.
 
Definitely felony level. It's fraud and grand scale theft.
 
TurtleDude said:
Lately, our local news has numerous stories of people illegally placing "skimmers" in credit card readers at Gas Stations to steal credit card numbers (or worse-to drain the bank accounts of those using debit cards). what do you think the penalty should be?

I believe any such action should be at minimum a felony offense and since credit card fraud -due to "interstate commerce" can be a federal offense, skimming should be as well with a point added to the offense level for each card hacked meaning the penalty could be in the 300 month range if someone skims several dozen cards.

I think its time to really crush people who do this sort of stuff and give them really hard time
Click to expand...

The same as any other sort of theft. Isn't the difference between grand theft, a felony, and petty theft, a misdemeanor, in the value of what is stolen?

Thieves, whether they skim credit cards, perpetrate scams, or steal cars should be held to account, but locking them up with violent felons is likely to turn them from property crime to violent crime.

Make them work off their punishment.
 
Other: the death penalty.
 
Dittohead not! said:
The same as any other sort of theft. Isn't the difference between grand theft, a felony, and petty theft, a misdemeanor, in the value of what is stolen?

Thieves, whether they skim credit cards, perpetrate scams, or steal cars should be held to account, but locking them up with violent felons is likely to turn them from property crime to violent crime.

Make them work off their punishment.
Click to expand...


the problem is-they often sell the credit card numbers to others so the amount of loss is hard to determine I think skimming should be a federal felony with 12-24 months of prison plus restitution but each thousand dollar additional loss would be one point on the offense level meaning it could result in a life sentence if enough was taken.

another punishment that I would concur with-though its not a possibility in this society, is a public caning of say 10 lashes and another for every thousand dollar loss.

if they do it again after that-shoot them
 
TurtleDude said:
Lately, our local news has numerous stories of people illegally placing "skimmers" in credit card readers at Gas Stations to steal credit card numbers (or worse-to drain the bank accounts of those using debit cards). what do you think the penalty should be?

I believe any such action should be at minimum a felony offense and since credit card fraud -due to "interstate commerce" can be a federal offense, skimming should be as well with a point added to the offense level for each card hacked meaning the penalty could be in the 300 month range if someone skims several dozen cards.

I think its time to really crush people who do this sort of stuff and give them really hard time
Click to expand...

5 year minimum, IMO. Skimming isn't an entry level crime, even if they have no prior that just means they haven't been caught before.
 
TurtleDude said:
Lately, our local news has numerous stories of people illegally placing "skimmers" in credit card readers at Gas Stations to steal credit card numbers (or worse-to drain the bank accounts of those using debit cards). what do you think the penalty should be?

I believe any such action should be at minimum a felony offense and since credit card fraud -due to "interstate commerce" can be a federal offense, skimming should be as well with a point added to the offense level for each card hacked meaning the penalty could be in the 300 month range if someone skims several dozen cards.

I think its time to really crush people who do this sort of stuff and give them really hard time
Click to expand...

Death Penalty...
 
Crovax said:
5 year minimum, IMO. Skimming isn't an entry level crime, even if they have no prior that just means they haven't been caught before.
Click to expand...

Ruining people's lives deserves death.
 
Bodhisattva said:
Ruining people's lives deserves death.
Click to expand...

I generally oppose the death penalty mainly because a mistake cannot be remedied and as a well respected federal judge noted-"some people deserve to be fried but I don't believe the government should have the power to fry people"

however another part of me is just sick and tired of crap like these skimmers and if there was a fool proof way of making sure they are absolutely guilty, I can see the arguments for shooting them on the spot. People engaging in this sort of sophisticated and premeditated theft are not people starving for a meal. This is not some guy breaking into a supermarket and stealing food or medicine. These skimmers are scum pure and simple and their existence has no benefit to the rest of us. I'd probably support stake out squads sniping skimmers when they open gas pumps and install skimmers. there is absolutely no valid reason for someone who doesn't work for a gas station or the auditors office opening up a gas pump
 
Bodhisattva said:
Ruining people's lives deserves death.
Click to expand...

ruining lives can mean many things. I suspect more than a few HS girls would say being stood up for the senior prom "ruined their lives" etc.

but on a more serious level, people who plot to steal the financial information of others to steal their wealth and ruin their credit-yeah that's pretty bad and I'd have a hard time getting too worked up if the victim of said crime say shot such a person say 5 times with a Garand battle rifle or a 12G shotgun
 
TurtleDude said:
Lately, our local news has numerous stories of people illegally placing "skimmers" in credit card readers at Gas Stations to steal credit card numbers (or worse-to drain the bank accounts of those using debit cards). what do you think the penalty should be?

I believe any such action should be at minimum a felony offense and since credit card fraud -due to "interstate commerce" can be a federal offense, skimming should be as well with a point added to the offense level for each card hacked meaning the penalty could be in the 300 month range if someone skims several dozen cards.

I think its time to really crush people who do this sort of stuff and give them really hard time
Click to expand...
You're using the Commerce Clause in support of your argument?

Say it ain't so!

But put me down for a serious felony charge. In some unusual circumstance it could be pleaded down, if appropriate.
 
Chomsky said:
You're using the Commerce Clause in support of your argument?

Say it ain't so!

But put me down for a serious felony charge. In some unusual circumstance it could be pleaded down, if appropriate.
Click to expand...
that's a good point and if the jurisprudence in this country was properly interpretive of the commerce clause, then the ability of the federal government to prosecute this sort of crime would be more limited. But many skimmers sell credit card numbers across state lines and that if a far more reasonable relationship to an impact on interstate commerce. furthermore, since banks that issue these cards are federally guaranteed, again there is a strong nexus
 
TurtleDude said:
the problem is-they often sell the credit card numbers to others so the amount of loss is hard to determine I think skimming should be a federal felony with 12-24 months of prison plus restitution but each thousand dollar additional loss would be one point on the offense level meaning it could result in a life sentence if enough was taken.

another punishment that I would concur with-though its not a possibility in this society, is a public caning of say 10 lashes and another for every thousand dollar loss.

if they do it again after that-shoot them
Click to expand...

The caning and shooting part would no doubt be effective, but might not pass Constitutional muster.

It should be easy enough for the victim and/or the credit card company to determine the amount of the loss.

Thieves do need to be punished, and the punishment should be severe and made known to other potential thieves so as to deter them.

I favor hard labor. Thieves wouldn't steal if they were willing to work. Let's teach them how to work, and at the same time make it plain that getting caught means no more easy life.
 
Honestly, prisons should be labor camps. Make them work to earn their keep in the penitentiary, it might give them skills or assist in rehabilitating them as an individual.

In the news I kept hearing of this, it actually prompted me to buy ID theft protection/insurance as I have friends who have fallen victim to this.
 
TurtleDude said:
Lately, our local news has numerous stories of people illegally placing "skimmers" in credit card readers at Gas Stations to steal credit card numbers (or worse-to drain the bank accounts of those using debit cards). what do you think the penalty should be?

I believe any such action should be at minimum a felony offense and since credit card fraud -due to "interstate commerce" can be a federal offense, skimming should be as well with a point added to the offense level for each card hacked meaning the penalty could be in the 300 month range if someone skims several dozen cards.

I think its time to really crush people who do this sort of stuff and give them really hard time
Click to expand...

Wait, that's not already a felony?
 
Crovax said:
5 year minimum, IMO. Skimming isn't an entry level crime, even if they have no prior that just means they haven't been caught before.
Click to expand...

I would agree. Five years would be the minimum and depending on that could be raised for multiple counts.
 
Beatdown by all their victims, followed by 3-5 years.... if they live....
 
TurtleDude said:
Lately, our local news has numerous stories of people illegally placing "skimmers" in credit card readers at Gas Stations to steal credit card numbers (or worse-to drain the bank accounts of those using debit cards). what do you think the penalty should be?

I believe any such action should be at minimum a felony offense and since credit card fraud -due to "interstate commerce" can be a federal offense, skimming should be as well with a point added to the offense level for each card hacked meaning the penalty could be in the 300 month range if someone skims several dozen cards.

I think its time to really crush people who do this sort of stuff and give them really hard time
Click to expand...

We need stiffer penalties for all financial crimes. I'd like to see punitive asset forfeiture statute and this ain't just for the common criminal stealing CC numbers, but let's start hitting the ****s on Wall Street. They need a little bit of personal incentive to not do such things.
 
Card users have always been vulnerable to fraud. The technology to protect them has been around much longer than banking institutions have made the efforts to employ them.

A lot of CC users pay incredibly high interest rates. Banking institutions can well afford to protect card users via employing security technologies.

Debit cards pose a more risky set of problems. But banking institutions still make a lot off of fees applied when users access their own money from ATM's. Again they need to use those fees for user security.

Banking institutions are simply going to have to employ whatever technology that's available to avoid fraud.

One Solution: cell phones, iPads, etc have finger print verification devices. That same technology can easily be installed everywhere cards are accepted.

Maybe retina pattern scanners can be installed?

I think the punishment for stealing credit card and debit card information should be the same as home burglary while residents are in the house. That can be a horrific sentence in most states.
 
In general treated as theft based on the dollar value stolen/skimmed
 
TurtleDude said:
Lately, our local news has numerous stories of people illegally placing "skimmers" in credit card readers at Gas Stations to steal credit card numbers (or worse-to drain the bank accounts of those using debit cards). what do you think the penalty should be?

I believe any such action should be at minimum a felony offense and since credit card fraud -due to "interstate commerce" can be a federal offense, skimming should be as well with a point added to the offense level for each card hacked meaning the penalty could be in the 300 month range if someone skims several dozen cards.

I think its time to really crush people who do this sort of stuff and give them really hard time
Click to expand...
I would treat it on the same level as robbing a bank.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
 
Federal felony with mandatory prison time = my vote .......
 
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