What Is a Felony Check Charge?

In this technologically advanced era, the manipulation of money has become much faster and harder for people to track. Several crimes involving checks and check fraud have been elevated to the more serious level of felony in some parts of the United States.

Felony

A felony is described as a grave crime. The crimes of murder, rape, burglary and others are considered to be felonies. Fraud and property destruction, when they reach a certain dollar amount, are also felonies.

Check

A check is a written order to a bank to pay a certain amount from the signer's account with that bank.

Bad Checks

When a check is written for money the signer doesn't have, the check is void and useless. Usually, the signer is charged a fine and the check is torn up. If a person does this on purpose, then it can be a crime.

Check Crimes

Using another person's checks, forging checks and writing checks a person knows can't be cashed are examples of check crimes. Forgery and fraud are the main areas this falls under, and they can be felonies.

The Law

Just what qualifies a check crime for the felony level of punishment (one year or more in prison and $10,000 or more in fines as of October 2009) varies from one jurisdiction to another. Often there's a monetary amount, a standard of repeat behavior or intent that will change depending on the law.

References

• Felony Definition
• Check Definition
• Bad Check Laws