Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Saving Wallets and Increasing Penalties for Elder Scams Act” or the “SWIPES Act”.
Saving Wallets and Increasing Penalties for Elder Scams Act
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to enhance penalties for certain cases of gift card fraud, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Preventing gift card fraud
in subsection (a)(6)—
in subparagraph (A), by striking “; or” and inserting a semicolon;
in subparagraph (B), by striking the semicolon and inserting “; or”; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(C) directly or indirectly obtaining an access device, including by creating, maintaining, or using a website that collects access device information;”
in subsection (c)(1)—
in subparagraph (A)—
in clause (i), by striking “10 years” and inserting “20 years”; and
in clause (ii), by striking “15 years” and inserting “25 years”;
in subparagraph (B)—
by striking “20 years” and inserting “30 years”; and
by striking “; and” and inserting a semicolon;
in subparagraph (C), by striking the period and inserting a semicolon; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(D) in the case of an offense under paragraph (3) of subsection (a) in which the amount of access devices that are counterfeit or unauthorized exceeds 500 devices, a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 25 years, or both; and
“(E) in the case of an offense under paragraph (3) of subsection (a) in which the amount of access devices that are counterfeit or unauthorized exceeds 1,000 devices, a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 30 years, or both.”
in subsection (e)—
in paragraph (1)—
by striking “or other telecommunications service, equipment, or instrument identifier, or other means of account access” and inserting “gift card, password, cryptographic key, token, digital asset private key, digital asset recovery phrase, passkey, one-time password, hardware security key credential, or other physical or digital credential, authentication mechanism, or programmatic identifier”; and
by inserting “or other assets” after “transfer of funds”;
in paragraph (10), by striking “; and” and inserting a semicolon;
in paragraph (11), by striking the period and inserting a semicolon; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(12) the term gift card means a physical or virtual card, code, or device that may be issued to a consumer on a prepaid basis, in whole or in part, 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 that is redeemable upon presentation by a consumer at a single merchant, a group of affiliated merchants, or a group of unaffiliated merchants, including gift card redemption information.”
Increased penalties for fraud against persons over the age of 60—
In general— Chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1029 the following:
“1029A. Fraud against persons over the age of 60
“(a) Definition—For purposes of this section:
“(1) Covered felony violation—The term covered felony violation means any offense that is a felony violation of—
“(A) any provision contained in this chapter (relating to fraud and false statements), other than this section; and
“(B) any provision contained in chapter 63 (relating to mail, bank, and wire fraud).
“(2) Knowingly—The term knowingly means that the defendant acts with actual knowledge of the victim’s age, deliberate ignorance of the victim’s age, or with reckless disregard for the victim’s age.
“(b) Offense—Whoever, during and in relation to any covered felony violation, knowingly commits such offense against a person over the age of 60 shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 2 years, in addition to the term of imprisonment imposed for the covered felony violation.
“(c) Consecutive sentence—Notwithstanding any other provision of law—
“(1) a court shall not place on probation any person sentenced under subsection (b), nor shall the term of imprisonment imposed on a person under subsection (b) run concurrently with any other term of imprisonment, except as provided in paragraph (2); and
“(2) a term of imprisonment imposed on a person under this section may, in the discretion of the court, run concurrently, in whole or in part, only with another term of imprisonment that is imposed by the court at the same time on that person for an additional violation of this section, provided that such discretion shall be exercised in accordance with any applicable guidelines and policy statements issued by the United States Sentencing Commission pursuant to section 994 of title 28.”
Clerical amendment— The table of sections for chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting the following item after the item for section 1029:
Defining monetary instruments— Section 1956(c)(5) of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
by striking “means (i) coin or currency” and inserting the following: “means—
“(A) coin or currency”
by striking “, or (ii) investment securities” and inserting the following: “;
“(B) investment securities”
in subparagraph (B), as so designated, by striking the semicolon and inserting “; or”; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(C) a gift card, as defined in section 1029(e).”