ABSTRACT
The first credit card was introduced to Mainland China in 1985, which occurred much later than the enactment of the first Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1979. 2 As a result, there are no specialised provisions in Chinese Criminal Law to regulate fraud crime committed by means of credit card. As credit card interactions became more common and widespread in Chinese social and economic activities, there was also a growing number of criminal cases relating to credit card fraud that have come to the attention of authorities. In response, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) established relevant judicial interpretation 3 that clearly stated that this type of fraud case should be punished as general fraud. However, unlike traditional fraud, credit card fraud has specific characteristics which require specialisation.
