Florida 2025 2025 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H1007 Introduced / Bill

Filed 02/25/2025

                       
 
HB 1007   	2025 
 
 
 
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A bill to be entitled 1 
An act relating to offenses involving gift cards; 2 
creating ss. 812.0152, 817.5696, and 831.095, F.S.; 3 
providing definitions; prohibiting gift card theft, 4 
gift card fraud, and gift card forgery, respectively; 5 
providing criminal penalties; providing an effective 6 
date. 7 
 8 
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 9 
 10 
 Section 1.  Section 812.0152, Florida Statutes, is created 11 
to read: 12 
 812.0152  Gift card theft.— 13 
 (1)  As used in this section, the term: 14 
 (a)  "Card issuer" means the issuer of a gift card or an 15 
agent of such issuer with respect to such card. 16 
 (b)  "Cardholder" means a person to whom a physical or 17 
virtual gift card is issued or a pers on who has agreed with the 18 
card issuer to pay obligations arising from the issuance of a 19 
gift card to another person. 20 
 (c)  "Closed-loop gift card" means a card, code, or device 21 
that is issued to a consumer on a prepaid basis primarily for 22 
personal, family, or household purposes in a specified amount, 23 
regardless of whether that amount may be increased or reloaded 24 
in exchange for payment, and that is redeemable upon 25     
 
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presentation by a consumer at a single merchant or group of 26 
affiliated merchants. 27 
 (d)  "Gift card" means a physical or digital closed -loop 28 
gift card or open-loop gift card that is either activated or 29 
inactivated. 30 
 (e)  "Gift card redemption information" means information 31 
unique to each gift card which allows the cardholder to access, 32 
transfer, or spend the funds on such gift card. 33 
 (f)  "Gift card seller" means a merchant engaged in the 34 
business of selling open -loop gift cards or closed -loop gift 35 
cards to consumers. 36 
 (g)  "Open-loop gift card" means a card, code, or device 37 
that is issued to a cons umer on a prepaid basis primarily for 38 
personal, family, or household purposes in a specified amount, 39 
regardless of whether that amount may be increased or reloaded 40 
in exchange for payment, and that is redeemable upon 41 
presentation by a consumer at multiple unaffiliated merchants 42 
for goods or services within the card network. 43 
 (h)  "Value" means the full monetary face value of a gift 44 
card or, for a variable -load gift card, the potential value of 45 
the variable-load gift card. 46 
 (2)  A person who, with intent to defraud, acquires or 47 
retains possession of a gift card or gift card redemption 48 
information without the consent of the cardholder, card issuer, 49 
or gift card seller commits gift card theft, punishable as 50     
 
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provided in s. 812.014. 51 
 (3)   A person who, with intent to defraud, uses, for the 52 
purpose of obtaining money, goods, services, or anything else of 53 
value, a gift card or gift card redemption information that has 54 
been obtained in violation of subsection (2) or s. 831.095 55 
commits gift card theft, punishable as provided in s. 812.014. 56 
 Section 2.  Section 817.5696, Florida Statutes, is created 57 
to read: 58 
 817.5696  Gift card fraud. — 59 
 (1)  As used in this section, the terms "gift card," "gift 60 
card redemption information," "cardholder," "card issuer," and 61 
"gift card seller" have the same meanings as in s. 812.0152(1). 62 
 (2)  A person who, with intent to defraud, knowingly 63 
devises a scheme to obtain a gift card or gift card redemption 64 
information from a cardholder, card issuer, or gift card seller 65 
by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or 66 
promises commits gift card fraud, a felony of the third degree, 67 
punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 68 
 Section 3.  Section 831.095, Florida Statutes, is created 69 
to read: 70 
 831.095  Gift card forgery.— 71 
 (1)  As used in this section, the term "gift card" has the 72 
same meaning as in s. 812.0152(1). 73 
 (2)  A person who, with intent to injure or defraud, alters 74 
or tampers with a gift card commits gift card forgery, a felony 75     
 
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of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 76 
775.083, or s. 775.084. 77 
 Section 4. This act shall take effect October 1, 2025. 78