House 4990

WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

2026 REGULAR SESSION

Introduced

House Bill 4990

By Delegates Brooks, Martin, Vance, Kyle, Roop, Mallow, Marple, Hornby, Pritt, Ferrell, and B. Smith

[Introduced January 30, 2026; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new article, designated §61-4A-1 and §61-4A-2, relating to gift card fraud, providing definitions, and establishing punishment.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

Article 4a. crimes involving gift cards.

§61-4A-1. Crimes involving gift cards.

(a) Any person who, with intent to defraud, acquires or retains possession of a gift card or gift card redemption information without the consent of the cardholder, card issuer, or gift card seller is guilty of theft.

(b) Any person who, with intent to defraud, alters or tampers with a gift card is guilty of forgery.

(c) Any person who, with intent to defraud, devises a scheme to obtain a gift card or gift card redemption information from a card holder, card issuer, or gift card seller by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, is guilty of fraud.

(d) Any person who, with intent to defraud, uses, for the purpose of obtaining money, goods, services, or anything else of value, a gift card or gift card redemption information that has been obtained in violation of sections (a) or (b) of this section is guilty of theft. If the value of all money, goods, services, and other things of value obtained in violation of this section exceeds $1,000 in any consecutive six-month period, then the person shall be guilty of grand theft.

§61-4A-2. Definitions.

As used in this article:

"Cardholder" means any person or party to whom a physical or virtual gift card is issued through a purchase, or receives a gift card from a willing party.

"Card issuer" means any person that issues a gift card or the agent of that person with respect to that card.

"Closed-Loop Gift Card" means a card, code, or device that is issued to a consumer on a prepaid basis primarily for personal, family, or household purposes in a specified amount, regardless of whether that amount may be increased or reloaded in exchange for payment; and is redeemable upon presentation by a consumer at a single merchant or group of affiliated merchants.

"Gift Card" means a physical or digital "closed-loop gift card" or "open-loop gift card" that is either activated or inactivated.

"Gift Card Redemption Information" means information unique to each gift card which allows the cardholder to access, transfer, or spend the funds on that gift card.

"Open-Loop Gift Card" means a card, code, or device that is issued to a consumer on a prepaid basis primarily for personal, family, or household purposes in a specified amount, regardless of whether that amount may be increased or reloaded in exchange for payment; and is redeemable upon presentation at multiple unaffiliated merchants for goods or services within the payment card network.

"Gift Card Seller" means a merchant that is engaged in the business of selling open-loop or closed-loop gift cards to consumers.

"Value" means the greatest amount of economic loss the owner of the property might reasonably suffer including, in the case of a gift card, the full monetary face value or potential value for variable load gift cards.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the crime of gift card fraud, providing definitions, and establishing punishments.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.