Question for Cops/Police Officers ONLY! Can there be an Arrest/Prosecution in this Case??

Question

I've posted about this before, but I need to find out accurate info from real cops/police officers.

A friend (over 18) has a joint credit card with her mom. She never used the card, except this once.

But before she could mail in the payment, her parents saw the transaction history online & threatened to send her to jail for using “their” card. So she got scared & lied. She said she never used it, that she didn’t even have the card anymore.

She's sent in the full payment, but she can’t tell that to her parents (since she denied using the card)

The facts are this:

1.) The credit card was/is a joint account, with 2 cards. 1 card is in the name of my friend, the other card is in the name of her mom

2.) She’s made FULL payment for the item purchased

Now, if THE PARENTS (NOT the girl) report the card as stolen OR misused (fraudulent charges) can my friend be arrested and/or prosecuted for credit card fraud or theft??

need to add

There is no balance on this card because my friend has already sent in FULL payment for her portion

Secondly, the card is a joint account with her mom. There is no primary cardholder. It is a joint account, NOT a primary account with my friend as an additional cardholder

The two cardholders on the account are my mom and her friend.

Most importantly, she SENT IN FULL PAYMENT for what she charged.

But since she denied using the card, her parents (again, NOT the girl) are planning to report the card as stolen.

If they do can she be traced and arrested/prosecuted??

Answer 1

If her name is on the credit card and she is a joint user on the account, the answer is no, she cannot be arrested for fraud or theft. Even if she used the card and didnt pay the bill, she could not be arrested for fraud or theft. If she used the card and didnt pay it, it would be turned in to a credit bureau and reflect on both her and her moms credit report and they could be sued for the amount owed, but as far as being arrested no. She is a legal, authorized user for the card.

Answer 2

She can be charged with "filing a false statement" if she gave a deposition stating that she did not use the card when she actually did. The card is a joint account.... "joint" means each party is equally responsible for the account.... If Tim and Tom have a joint account and Tim tells Tom not to use the card but Tom does anyway, tough crap Tom has every right to use the card since Tim signed agreeing he'd be responsible for his use and his friends use.... So there is nothing your friends parents can do. Being a police officer I'd advise you to tell your friend to contact the officer / detective who is working the case and come clean.... let the officer know that your friend was scared because her parents had her believing she could go to jail for using the card.... more than likely the detective will be happy to be done with the case and not worry about any further action. Then tell your friend to take the card and go make 100 one-cent purchases with the card so there are 100 transactions at 1 cent a piece that her parent can look at...... then have her pay the dollar and close her half of the account because it sounds like her parents are not really wanting a shared account anyway..... good luck and don't sweat it no big deal.

Answer 3

I'm a cop.
-If your friend's name is still on the account, the mother can't do anything.
-If her name isn't on the account anymore, the intention of using the card without the mother's consent will have to be proved. Since your friend didn't know her name wasn't on the account anymore, she won't have a problem. The credit card company will have in file when they cancelled her name, so if the mother cancelled it after your friend made the transaction, that will show she's the one with bad intention.
-The fact that she sent a payment shows that she had good intentions.
-Even if your friend's intention were bad, she CAN'T go to jail for one transaction. At the worst, she would get a probation.
-If the mother is dumb enough to make a complaint anyway, tell your friend to tell the truth to the cop. Believe me, nothing will happen.

The best would be for your friend to tell the truth to her parents and explain why she lied ( she got scared when the mother made the threath of getting her in jail ).

I would also have to disagree with all the people saying she could be charged of public mischief ( making a false report ). First, the mother would be the one making the report thinking her card was stolen and Second, your friend's intention by lying to her mother wasn't to make a false report, but to protect herself after her mother's threath. I wouldn't charge her.

Answer 4

I would say that she cannot be prosecuted for this unless she reported the card as stolen and then did not pay the charge. Since the charge has been paid, and since she is a signer on the account then the parents can say whatever they want to but the police taking the report will talk to the girl and she will just have to tell the truth to the police. I would reccommend that she come clean to her parents and avoid all the drama and fear that seem to be going with all of this.
Good luck...

Answer 5

I dont know what your laws are where you are but here we have an offence cause "create false belief" This is where one person (your friend) states a fact, knowing it to be false. This causes the matter to be reported to the police (either by her directly or indirect, ie her parents thinking she is telling the truth) A report is then taken and some form of police action is undertaken. here just having the officer taking the report is good enough. Even though your friend has made full payment etc, she still may be guilty at law of create false belief. Because it is a joint account, police here would not even get invovled uder the circumstances you have described in regards to the actual purchase and money owing (had she not paid the debt) This would probably be deemed a civil matter.

Answer 6

As a retired police officer, after investigating and spending days checking on this, I would be very "mad" to find that a girl lied to her parents and they reported a false police report.

So since it was reported stolen and she agreed with them that it was, They based thier false report on her testomony.

So she has committed fraud, although she sent payment in, the billing would be in contest since it was reported as a fraud,

So yes I would charge her, even if it was latter droped just to teach her a lesson, and most police officers would do the same thing, to teach her a lesson

She needs to call her parents and tell them the truth, living a lie will only make it worst.

Answer 7

Your friend is fine - for a crime to happen there has to be INTENT. From what I see there is not intent to defraud anyone.

The only thing she did wrong is lie to her parents, which of course if she didn't, she would be in this mess after all.

No crime has happened here. her best bet is to come clean with her parents, so they don't report the card stolen. Since they haven't reported it stolen yet, they have probably figured out what has gone on and is waiting to see if she is going to come clean.

Answer 8

no she can not go to jail, if she is joint on the account and the card has her name on it. her parents are full of BS

Answer 9

It's already been said - no intent -

She'll be fine.

Hope she learned her lesson about sharing credit with the folks..sounds pretty messy.

Answer 10

No dollar loss to any person = no fraud. No DA would prosecute on this.