The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 13: Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Chapter 043: Forgery and Counterfeiting

• § 1801. Forgery and counterfeiting of papers, documents, etc

  A person who wittingly, falsely, and deceitfully makes, alters, forges, or counterfeits, or wittingly, falsely, or deceitfully causes to be made, altered, forged, or counterfeited, or procures, aids, or counsels the making, altering, forging, or counterfeiting, of a writ, process, public record, or any certificate, return, or attestation of a clerk of a court, public register, notary public, justice, or other public officer, in relation to a matter wherein such certificate, return, or attestation may be received as legal proof, or a charter, deed, or any evidence or muniment of title to property, will, terminal care document, testament, bond, or writing obligatory, letter of attorney, policy of insurance, bill of lading, bill of exchange, promissory note, or an order drawn on a person or corporation, or on a State, county, or town or school district treasurer, for money or other property, or an acquittance or discharge for money or other property, or an acceptance of a bill of exchange, or indorsement or assignment of a bill of exchange or promissory note, for the payment of money, or any accountable receipt for money, goods, or other property, or certificate of stock, with intent to injure, or defraud a person, shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years and fined not more than $1,000.00, or both. (Amended 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 1981, No. 141 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. April 8, 1982; 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 23.)

• § 1802. Uttering forged or counterfeited instrument

  A person who utters and publishes as true a forged, altered, or counterfeited record, deed, instrument, or other writing mentioned in section 1801 of this title, knowing the same to be false, altered, forged, or counterfeited, with intent to injure or defraud a person, shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years and fined not more than $1,000.00, or both. (Amended 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 23.)

• § 1803. Counterfeiting or altering peddler’s license

  A person who counterfeits a license to a peddler, or alters such license granted agreeably to the provisions of law, or utters and publishes as true a counterfeit or altered license, shall be imprisoned not more than ten years. (Amended 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 15.)

• § 1804. Counterfeiting paper money

  A person who falsely makes, alters, forges, or counterfeits, or procures to be made, altered, forged, or counterfeited, or aids or assists in making, altering, forging, or counterfeiting, a note, or imitation of, or purporting to be a note issued by the United States, used as currency, or a bank bill or promissory note, or imitation of, or purporting to be a bank bill or promissory note, issued by a banking company incorporated by the Congress of the United States or by the legislature of a state of the United States or of another country, with intent to injure or defraud a person; and a person who utters, passes, or gives in payment, or offers to pass or give in payment, or procures to be offered, passed, or given in payment, or has in his or her possession with intent to offer, pass, or give in payment, such altered, forged, counterfeited, or imitated note, bank bill, or promissory note, knowing the same to be altered, forged, counterfeited, or imitated, shall be imprisoned not more than 14 years and fined not more than $1,000.00, or both. (Amended 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 23.)

• § 1805. Counterfeiting scrip

  A person who falsely makes, alters, forges, or counterfeits or procures to be made, altered, forged, or counterfeited, or aids or assists in making, altering, forging, or counterfeiting, any scrip or imitation purporting to be scrip issued, under the authorization of 11 V.S.A. chapter 5, with intent to injure or defraud, and a person who utters, passes, or gives in payment or offers to pass or give in payment or has in his or her possession with intent to offer, pass or give in payment, such altered, forged, counterfeited, or imitated scrip, knowing the same to be altered, forged, counterfeited, or imitated shall be punishable for forgery, notwithstanding any other penalty provided in 11 V.S.A. chapter 5.

• § 1806. Affixing false signature to obligation of corporation

  A person who, with intent to pass the same as true, fraudulently affixes to an instrument or writing purporting to be a note, draft, or other evidence of debt issued by a corporation, a fictitious or pretended signature purporting to be the signature of an officer or agent of such corporation, though no such person may ever have been an officer or agent of such corporation nor such corporation ever have existed, shall be imprisoned not more than 14 years or fined not more than $1,000.00, or both. (Amended 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 23.)

• § 1807. Making or repairing tools for counterfeit money

  A person who engraves, makes, or mends, or begins to engrave, make, or mend, a plate, block, or press, or other tool, instrument, or implement, or makes or provides paper or other material adapted and designed for forging or making a false or counterfeit bank bill or promissory note, in the similitude of the bills or notes issued by the United States, or by a bank or banking company established and incorporated by the Congress of the United States, or by the legislature of this State or any of the United States or of any other country; and a person who has in his or her possession such plate or block engraved in any part, or a press or other tool, instrument, or implement, or paper or other material adapted and designed as aforesaid, with intent to use the same, or cause or permit the same to be used, in forging or making such false and counterfeit bank bills or notes, shall be imprisoned not more than 14 years and fined not more than $1,000.00, or both. (Amended 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 23.)

• § 1808. Joining parts of several bills or instruments

  A person who fraudulently unites different parts of several bank bills or other genuine instruments, so as to produce an additional bank bill or instrument, with intent to pass all of them as genuine, shall be imprisoned not more than 14 years and fined not more than $1,000.00, or both. (Amended 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 23.)

• § 1809. Counterfeiting coin

  A person who counterfeits gold or silver coin, current by law or usage in this State, or utters, passes, or gives in payment such counterfeit gold or silver coin, knowing the same to be false and counterfeit, with intent to injure or defraud a person, and a person who has in his possession false money or coin, counterfeited in the similitude of gold or silver coin, current as aforesaid, knowing the same to be false and counterfeit, with intent to utter or pass the same as true, or counsels, advises, or assists in counterfeiting, uttering, or passing such gold or silver coin, shall be imprisoned not more than 15 years and fined not more than $1,000.00, or both. (Amended 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 23.)

• § 1810. Making or repairing tools for counterfeiting coin

  A person who casts, stamps, engraves, makes, or mends, or knowingly has in his or her possession, a mould, pattern, die, puncheon, engine, press, or other tool or instrument adapted and designed for coining or making counterfeit coin in the similitude of gold or silver coin, current by law or usage in this State, with intent to use or employ the same or to cause or permit the same to be used or employed in coining or making such false or counterfeit coin, shall be imprisoned not more than 15 years and fined not more than $1,000.00, or both. (Amended 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 23.)

• § 1811. Making imitation of gold or silver

  A person who makes, mixes, or changes a metal in imitation of gold or silver, or teaches a person the art of making, mixing, or changing a metal in imitation of gold or silver, with intent that the same shall be used for coining, shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years and fined not more than $500.00, or both. (Amended 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 23.)

• § 1812. Officers to make seizures

  A district judge, sheriff, deputy sheriff, high bailiff, or constable within his or her jurisdiction shall seize forged, false, or counterfeited bank bills or notes or coin and the instruments or implements made or kept for the purpose of making, forging, changing, or counterfeiting gold or silver coin, bank bills, or notes, and deliver the same as soon as may be to the State’s Attorney of such county, with the names of the persons from whom the same are taken. (Amended 1965, No. 194, § 10, operative February 1, 1967; 1973, No. 249 (Adj. Sess.), § 44, eff. April 9, 1974; 2017, No. 93 (Adj. Sess.), § 12.)

• § 1813. Making or uttering illicit money

  If a person or corporation within the State, without authority of law, emits and utters a bill of credit, or makes, signs, draws, or indorses a bond, promissory writing or note, bill of exchange, order, or other paper to be used as and in lieu of money, such person or each member of such corporation assenting thereto shall be imprisoned not more than one year or fined not more than $600.00, or both. (Amended 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 23.)

• § 1814. Selling or passing illicit money

  A person who sells, utters, or passes a bill of credit, bond, promissory writing or note, bill of exchange, order, or other paper, made, signed, drawn, or indorsed to be used as and in lieu of money, without authority from this State or some other state or country, knowing the same to have been made, signed, drawn, or indorsed for the purposes aforesaid, without such lawful authority, shall be fined not more than $1,000.00.

• § 1815. Description of paper forged or counterfeited

  In a complaint, information, or indictment for forgery or counterfeiting, or for uttering and publishing as true an instrument, document, or paper which may be the subject of the offense of forgery or counterfeiting, it shall be sufficient to describe such instrument, document, or paper by the name or designation by which it is usually known or by the purport thereof, without setting forth a copy or facsimile or otherwise describing the same or its value. A misnaming of such instrument, document, or paper shall not affect the cause, provided, that as set forth, the same appears to be any one of the instruments, documents, or papers that is made a subject of the offense of forgery or counterfeiting.

• § 1816. Possession or use of credit card skimming devices and re-encoders

  (a) A person who knowingly, wittingly, and with the intent to defraud possesses a scanning device, or who knowingly, wittingly, and with intent to defraud uses a scanning device to access, read, obtain, memorize, or store, temporarily or permanently, information encoded on the computer chip or magnetic strip of a payment card without the permission of the authorized user of the payment card shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years or fined not more than $10,000.00, or both.

  (b) A person who knowingly, wittingly, and with the intent to defraud possesses a re-encoder, or who knowingly, wittingly, and with the intent to defraud uses a re-encoder to place encoded information on the computer chip or magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card or any electronic medium that allows an authorized transaction to occur without the permission of the authorized user of the payment card from which the information is being re-encoded shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years or fined not more than $10,000.00, or both.

  (c) Any scanning device or re-encoder described in subsection (e) of this section allegedly possessed or used in violation of subsection (a) or (b) of this section shall be seized and upon conviction shall be forfeited. Upon forfeiture, any information on the scanning device or re-encoder shall be removed permanently.

  (d) Any computer, computer system, computer network, or any software or data owned by the defendant that are used during the commission of any public offense described in this section or any computer owned by the defendant that is used as a repository for the storage of software or data illegally obtained in violation of this section shall be subject to forfeiture.

  (e) For purposes of this section:

  (1) “Payment card” means a credit card, debit card, or any other card that is issued to an authorized user and that allows the user to obtain, purchase, or receive goods, services, money, or anything else of value.

  (2) “Re-encoder” means an electronic device that places encoded information from the computer chip or magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card onto the computer chip or magnetic strip or stripe of a different payment card or any electronic medium that allows an authorized transaction to occur.

  (3) “Scanning device” means a scanner, reader, or any other electronic device that is used to access, read, scan, obtain, memorize, or store, temporarily or permanently, information encoded on the computer chip or magnetic strip or stripe of a payment card.

  (f) Nothing in this section shall preclude prosecution under any other provision of law. (Added 2009, No. 116 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. May 21, 2010.)