As a former Davidson County prosecutor for three years, Kevin Kennedy prosecuted theft, fraud, and other financial-crime cases and understands how prosecutors use transaction histories, bank records, merchant surveillance, receipts, account statements, digital communications, and alleged admissions to build credit- and debit-card fraud cases. These cases often turn on authorization, knowledge, identity, and the value of what was actually obtained.
Tennessee law criminalizes both illegal possession of a credit or debit card and fraudulent use of a card or information from that card. The punishment can range from a Class A misdemeanor to a serious felony depending primarily on the value of the property, credit, goods, or services obtained.
Fraudulent Use of a Credit or Debit Card in Tennessee
Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-118 provides that a person commits fraudulent use of a credit or debit card by using, or allowing another person to use, a card or information from the card to obtain property, credit, services, or anything else of value while knowing that the card is forged or stolen, revoked or cancelled, expired and used with fraudulent intent, or otherwise unauthorized by the issuer or cardholder.
The statute also separately prohibits illegal possession of a card. A person may be charged when, knowing there is no consent from the owner or issuer, the person takes, exercises control over, or otherwise uses the card or information from it.
A Physical Card Is Not Required
The statute applies not only to a physical credit or debit card but also to information from the card. Online purchases, saved card numbers, mobile-wallet information, photographs of cards, and copied account information can therefore become evidence in a prosecution.
The defense should determine how the information was obtained, who had access to it, whether the transaction was made in person or remotely, and whether the State can reliably connect the accused to the specific use.
Authorization Is Often the Central Issue
Many card-fraud cases turn on whether use was actually unauthorized. Family members, employees, spouses, roommates, business partners, or others may have had prior permission to use a card. A dispute can arise later about the scope or continuation of that permission.
Texts, emails, prior transactions, account practices, reimbursement history, witness testimony, and the relationship between the parties can be important. The State must prove the defendant knew the use was unauthorized under the charged theory.
What Are the Penalties?
Fraudulent use of a credit or debit card is punished as theft under Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-105 based on the amount of property, credit, goods, or services obtained. If the value is $1,000 or less, the offense is generally a Class A misdemeanor. More than $1,000 but less than $2,500 is a Class E felony; $2,500 to less than $10,000 is a Class D felony; $10,000 to less than $60,000 is a Class C felony; $60,000 to less than $250,000 is a Class B felony; and $250,000 or more is a Class A felony.
If no property, credit, goods, or services are actually obtained, illegal possession or fraudulent use of a credit card is a Class A misdemeanor under § 39-14-118(c)(2).
Value and Aggregation
The value of the transactions can determine whether the case is a misdemeanor or felony. The defense should review the actual amount successfully obtained rather than relying only on attempted charges, declined transactions, pending authorizations, or merchant estimates.
Where multiple transactions are alleged, prosecutors may attempt to aggregate amounts under Tennessee’s theft statutes when they claim the acts arose from a common scheme, purpose, intent, or enterprise. Whether separate transactions can properly be combined may substantially affect the felony classification.
Identity and Merchant Surveillance
Credit-card cases frequently rely on store video, ATM images, delivery records, IP addresses, account logins, receipts, or testimony from merchants. The defense should examine whether the evidence truly identifies the accused, especially when images are unclear or transactions occurred online.
Shared devices, shared accounts, authorized users, stolen login credentials, and other people with access to a card can create reasonable doubt about attribution.
Common Defenses to Credit or Debit Card Fraud
Possible defenses include authorization, lack of knowledge that the card was stolen or cancelled, mistaken identity, lack of fraudulent intent, inaccurate transaction records, failure to prove the value obtained, and unlawful searches of phones or other digital evidence.
Challenge Knowledge and Intent
The statute requires knowledge of the circumstance making the use unlawful. A person who reasonably believed the cardholder authorized a transaction presents a very different case from someone who knowingly used a stolen card. The defense should examine communications and prior usage patterns to determine what the accused actually knew.
Challenge Search and Digital Evidence
Police may seek phones, computers, account records, location data, and payment-app information. A defense attorney should evaluate whether warrants were supported by probable cause, whether the search stayed within the warrant’s scope, and whether digital evidence was properly attributed to the accused.
How Kevin Kennedy Defends Credit and Debit Card Fraud Cases
Kevin begins by identifying each disputed transaction, the amount actually obtained, the alleged cardholder, and why the State claims the use was unauthorized. He reviews merchant video, receipts, account statements, bank records, text messages, emails, device data, IP records, delivery information, search warrants, and witness statements.
His former-prosecutor experience helps him evaluate whether the State can prove unauthorized use, knowledge, identity, and value rather than merely showing that a disputed transaction occurred. Depending on the evidence, the defense may establish consent, challenge identification or intent, dispute aggregation or value, seek suppression of unlawfully obtained data, negotiate for dismissal or reduction, or prepare the case for trial. To discuss a Davidson County case in confidence, reach out to Kevin Kennedy Law Firm for a free case review.
Legal references: Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-14-105, 39-14-118, 39-11-302, and 40-35-111. This page is general information, not legal advice.