Credit Card Fraud Lawyer in Georgia

What Counts as Credit Card Fraud in Georgia?

Credit card fraud in Georgia is the use of a financial transaction card, or the card number alone, with intent to defraud and without the cardholder's or the issuer's authorization. Georgia prosecutes these cases under Georgia's Financial Transaction Card Fraud Act. The Act reaches far more than plastic credit cards.

The statutory term "financial transaction card" covers credit cards, debit cards, ATM cards, gift and stored-value cards, and the account numbers themselves. A charge filed over disputed debit card purchases moves through the same statutes as one filed over a credit card.

Intent to defraud is an element the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. It is not enough to show that a transaction happened, or that the cardholder later disputed it. A credit card fraud lawyer will often attack that element first, because it is where these cases tend to be weakest.

Many accusations start as a disputed charge or a chargeback rather than an obvious theft. A cardholder calls the issuer, the issuer opens a fraud file, and a detective receives a packet of transaction records months later. By the time a credit fraud lawyer gets involved, the client may already have spoken with a bank investigator. Kohn & Yager LLC has defended financial crime allegations in Georgia courts for years as part of a broader criminal defense practice, and these cases rarely look the way the police report describes them.

Common Credit Card Fraud and Credit Card Theft Charges

"Credit card fraud" is not one offense in Georgia. It is a family of related charges, and the count the prosecutor selects drives the exposure. The two sections below cover the charges filed most often.

Prosecutors also stack related counts onto the same indictment. Identity fraud, theft by taking, and forgery counts frequently appear alongside card charges arising from the same transactions. A credit card theft lawyer reads the accusation or indictment count by count, because each count carries its own elements and its own sentence. When the allegation is that a client took or held a card belonging to someone else, a credit card theft attorney will look hard at how the card came into the client's hands.

Financial Transaction Card Theft

Financial transaction card theft covers taking, obtaining, or withholding a card from the cardholder without consent. It also reaches receiving a card known to be lost or mislaid with intent to use it, buying or selling a card, and possessing an incomplete or counterfeit card. Cases built on stolen credit cards often start with a traffic stop or a search that turned up someone else's plastic.

Mere possession of another person's card can support this charge when the required intent is present. No purchase has to occur. Clients often ask us how a charge can stand when nothing was ever bought. The statute punishes the taking and the intent, not the spending. Georgia charges this offense as a felony.

Fraudulent Use and Forgery of a Card

Fraudulent use of a card involves using a card to get money, goods, or services while knowing the card is stolen, forged, revoked, expired, or used without the cardholder's authorization. Card forgery includes altering it, counterfeiting it, or signing it without authority. A merchant or employee who furnishes goods on a card he knows is stolen, forged, expired, or revoked faces the same fraud charge under O.C.G.A. § 16-9-33(b). Possessing two or more incomplete cards, or the machinery used to make them, is a separate offense: criminal possession of financial transaction card forgery devices.

The State usually builds these cases from records rather than eyewitnesses. Transaction logs, point-of-sale video, and issuer fraud reports do most of the work. Each of those sources has gaps a careful defense can expose.

Penalties for a Georgia Credit Card Fraud Conviction

Sentencing generally follows Georgia's card fraud penalty statute and the individual offense statutes. What a court may impose depends on the amount alleged, the specific count, and the defendant's prior record.

The core dividing line sits at $100. Fraudulent use of $100 or less in money, goods, or services within any six-month period is punished under O.C.G.A. § 16-9-38(a): a fine of up to $1,000, or one to two years in prison, or both. When the value tops $100 in that same six-month window, subsection (b) applies instead. That tier is expressly a felony, carrying a fine of up to $5,000, or one to three years, or both. Note what the lower tier is not. Georgia defines a felony as any crime punishable by more than 12 months, so even the under-$100 tier reaches felony-level exposure rather than the misdemeanor many people assume. The six-month aggregation rule matters too. Small charges spread across several weeks can be added together and pushed over the $100 line.

Federal exposure is real in some cases. Prosecution under federal card fraud statutes becomes a genuine risk when an alleged scheme crosses state lines, involves many card numbers, or ties into an online marketplace.

The consequences that outlast a sentence often concern clients most. Courts commonly order restitution to the issuer or the merchant. A fraud-related conviction also sits on a background check, and employers read dishonesty offenses differently from other charges. That record can close doors in any job requiring bonding, banking licensure, or the handling of money.

No lawyer can promise a particular outcome in a card case. What a defense can do is test every element, press for the lowest available charge level, and protect the client's record where the facts allow.

How a Credit Card Fraud Attorney Defends Your Case

Most card cases turn on intent and on the quality of the State's evidence. They are rarely won with a dramatic trial moment. A credit card fraud attorney usually makes the most progress in the months before trial, through discovery, motions, and negotiation. The two approaches below do the heavy lifting.

Challenging Intent and Authorization

The State must prove intent to defraud, and authorization disputes are extremely common. A family member, roommate, ex-partner, or business partner may have had permission to use the card and later fallen out with the cardholder. An authorized user may have exceeded an informal limit that nobody wrote down. Shared household accounts blur the line further.

Mistaken identity also happens, especially when the defendant's own card data was compromised in a breach. A civil billing dispute is not automatically a crime. Text messages, shared account histories, and payment patterns can show that permission existed.

Attacking the Digital and Documentary Evidence

The documentary record deserves close scrutiny. Chain of custody on issuer fraud reports and merchant records is often thin, and the people who generated them rarely appear in court. Low-resolution video frequently shows far less than the report claims.

Card-not-present cases depend on IP and device attribution, which can point to a household rather than a person. Defense counsel should also test whether a search of a phone or laptop rested on a valid warrant, and whether statements to bank investigators or police were taken in violation of Miranda. Suppression of a device search often collapses a card-not-present case.

What to Do If You Are Under Investigation for Card Fraud

Do not speak with bank fraud investigators, loss prevention staff, or detectives without counsel. Those interviews are recorded, and they routinely become the strongest evidence the State has.

Do not repay or "settle" the disputed amount on your own. A prosecutor can characterize a quiet repayment as an admission that the charges were unauthorized. Restitution has a place in these cases, but it should come through counsel and at the right moment.

Preserve evidence rather than deleting it. Texts, receipts, screenshots of shared accounts, and anything showing permission to use the card can decide the case. Deleting messages can create a separate problem, because the State may argue consciousness of guilt.

Timing matters as well. A pre-indictment call from a credit fraud attorney can sometimes redirect a case before charges are formally filed. Card cases usually begin with a warrant application in magistrate court and move to superior court for indictment on felony counts. That gap is the window where early defense work has the most leverage.

Many Georgia counties resolve first-time, low-loss card cases through pretrial diversion or conditional discharge when restitution is paid. Eligibility varies by circuit and by prosecutor. Practice differs across metro Atlanta circuits, including in DeKalb County fraud cases. An attorney familiar with local programs can tell you quickly whether that door is open.

Speak With a Georgia Credit Card Fraud Lawyer

Kohn & Yager LLC offers a free, confidential consultation about the specific card charges you face or are being investigated for. The first conversation is practical. We go through the transactions at issue, who had access to the card, and what you have already said to investigators or to the bank.

Call before you sit down with a bank investigator or a detective. That single interview often shapes the rest of the case, and it cannot be undone afterward.

Our firm has spent years defending financial transaction card cases and other fraud allegations in Georgia state and superior courts, and we know how prosecutors and diversion programs work across metro Atlanta circuits. Every credit card fraud attorney at this firm is a full-time criminal defense lawyer, not a general practitioner who takes fraud cases now and then. Choosing a criminal defense attorney who actually tries cases matters most when the State will not reduce a count. If you are searching for a credit card fraud attorney near me in Georgia, we handle these cases throughout the state.

No lawyer can promise a result, and every case depends on its own facts. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. What we can offer is a careful look at the evidence and a defense built on the facts. Call to talk through your situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is credit card fraud a felony in Georgia?

Usually yes. Financial transaction card theft is punished as a felony under O.C.G.A. § 16-9-38(b). Fraudulent use above $100 in a six-month period is expressly a felony as well. Even the lower tier, at $100 or less, is punishable by one to two years in prison, and Georgia treats any crime punishable by more than 12 months as a felony. Card fraud is rarely a misdemeanor case in this state.

Can you be charged with credit card fraud if you had permission to use the card?

Yes. People are charged in that situation, often after a relationship ends and the cardholder reports the charges as unauthorized. Permission undercuts the intent element, but you have to show it. Texts, payment history, and shared account records frequently carry that burden.

What happens if I use a debit card that isn't mine in Georgia?

Georgia treats debit cards, ATM cards, and gift cards as financial transaction cards under the same statutes. Using someone else's debit card without authorization can support the same charges as a credit card case. The amount involved and your record drive the exposure.

Do I have to talk to a bank fraud investigator before charges are filed?

No. You are not required to give a statement to a bank investigator, a loss prevention employee, or a detective. These interviews are recorded and often become the State's best evidence. Politely decline and ask that questions go through your attorney.

Can a first-time credit card fraud charge in Georgia be dismissed or diverted?

Sometimes. Many circuits offer pretrial diversion or conditional discharge for first-time, low-loss card cases, usually with restitution and conditions. Eligibility varies by county and prosecutor, so no one can promise admission before reviewing the file.