Nevada Senate panel approves new credit fraud penalties

A Senate panel has approved a bill enhancing penalties for Nevada workers who use government databases to commit credit fraud.

Public employees who lift another person's personal information from city, county or state files "to harm that other person or for any unlawful purpose" would face at least five years in prison under SB297.

The measure, which heads to the full Senate, also adds felony charges for possession of scanners or magnetic "re-encoding" devices used to steal credit card information.

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard Monday that such devices have been used by waiters and others with access to credit or debit cards to aid in identity theft.

Anybody convicted of having such devices with intent to defraud customers would face at least a year in prison and fines of up to $100,000 -- the current penalty for basic credit fraud.

The bill by Sen. Valerie Weiner, D-Las Vegas, would also prohibit businesses from printing full credit card numbers on receipts.

It makes exceptions for handwritten receipts and would give business owners until 2006 to comply.

Weiner said the three changes would help prevent credit fraud and identity theft in Nevada.