Florida Senate - 2025 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SB 1198 Ì651406ÇÎ651406 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House Comm: RCS . 03/11/2025 . . . . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— The Committee on Criminal Justice (DiCeglie) recommended the following: 1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment) 2 3 Delete everything after the enacting clause 4 and insert: 5 Section 1. Section 817.091, Florida Statutes, is created to 6 read: 7 817.091 Fraudulent use of gift cards.— 8 (1) As used in this section, the term: 9 (a) “Cardholder” means a person to whom a physical or 10 virtual gift card is sold, gifted, or issued following the 11 authorized sale of the gift card. 12 (b) “Card issuer” means a person that issues a gift card or 13 the agent of that person with respect to that card. 14 (c) “Gift card” means a card, code, or device that is 15 issued to a consumer on a prepaid basis primarily for personal, 16 family, or household purposes in a specified amount, regardless 17 of whether that amount may be increased or reloaded in exchange 18 for payment, and that is redeemable upon presentation by a 19 consumer at a single merchant, a group of affiliated merchants, 20 or a group of unaffiliated merchants. 21 (d) “Gift card redemption information” means information 22 unique to each gift card which allows the cardholder to access, 23 transfer, or spend the funds on that gift card. 24 (e) “Gift card seller” means a merchant that is engaged in 25 the business of selling gift cards to consumers. 26 (f) “Value” means the greatest amount of economic loss the 27 card issuer, gift card seller, or cardholder might reasonably 28 suffer, including the full or maximum monetary face or load 29 value of the gift card, regardless of whether the gift card has 30 been activated. 31 (2) It is unlawful for a person, with the intent to 32 defraud: 33 (a) To acquire or retain possession of a gift card or of 34 gift card redemption information without the consent of the 35 cardholder, card issuer, or gift card seller. 36 (b) To alter or tamper with a gift card. 37 (c) To devise a scheme to obtain a gift card or gift card 38 redemption information from a cardholder, card issuer, or gift 39 card seller by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, 40 representations, or promises. 41 (d) To use, for the purpose of obtaining money, goods, 42 services, or anything else of value, a gift card or gift card 43 redemption information that has been obtained in violation of 44 paragraph (a), paragraph (b), or paragraph (c). 45 (3)(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), a person who 46 violates subsection (2) commits a misdemeanor of the first 47 degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. 48 (b) If the value of the money, goods, services, or other 49 things of value obtained as a result of violating subsection (2) 50 exceeds $750, the person commits a felony of the third degree, 51 punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 52 Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2025. 53 54 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================ 55 And the title is amended as follows: 56 Delete everything before the enacting clause 57 and insert: 58 A bill to be entitled 59 An act relating to fraudulent use of gift cards; 60 creating s. 817.091, F.S.; defining terms; providing 61 criminal penalties for persons who, with the intent to 62 defraud, commit specified prohibited acts related to 63 gift cards; providing criminal penalties for persons 64 who, with the intent to defraud, use for certain 65 purposes gift cards or gift card redemption 66 information; providing enhanced criminal penalties if 67 the value of such violation exceeds a specified 68 amount; providing an effective date.