Summary — HB 315: Gift Card Theft and Unlawful Business Entry (2025, North Carolina)
Status / Effective date
- Committee substitute reported favorably. Passed both chambers.
- Effective Date (as enacted): applies to offenses committed on or after December 1, 2025. Prosecutions for pre‑existing offenses are unaffected.
Purpose / Intent
- Create and strengthen criminal and civil tools to combat theft and organized schemes involving gift cards and to criminalize wrongful entry into non‑public areas of commercial buildings. The bill targets individual thieves and organized retail crime operations that use gift cards or restricted access to facilitate theft.
Key provisions
1. New criminal offense — Unlawful entry into non‑public business area
- Creates a crime for knowingly and wrongfully entering parts of a building that are (a) commonly reserved for business personnel where money/property is kept, or (b) clearly posted as forbidden to the public.
- Penalties: Class 1 misdemeanor for a first offense; Class I felony for a second or subsequent offense.
New criminal offense — Larceny of gift cards (G.S. 14-72.12)
- Prohibits acquiring/possessing gift cards or gift‑card redemption information without consent, obtaining them by fraud, or altering/tampering with cards or packaging with intent to defraud.
- Penalties: Class 1 misdemeanor if value ≤ $1,000; otherwise Class H felony.
Expansion of Organized Retail Theft (amendment to G.S. 14-86.6)
- Adds organized theft schemes that target gift cards and gift‑card redemption information to the organized retail theft statute.
- Aggregation rule: thefts/gift‑card values may be aggregated over a 90‑day period (and across counties), with felony levels tied to aggregate value thresholds:
- > $1,500 → Class H felony
- > $20,000 → Class G felony
- > $50,000 → Class F felony
- > $100,000 → Class C felony
Civil liability (amendment to G.S. 1‑538.2)
- Adds larceny of gift cards to the list of offenses giving rise to civil damages available to property owners (includes value of goods, consequential damages, and potentially punitive damages).
Definitions / scope
- “Gift card,” “gift card issuer,” “gift card redemption information,” and “gift card value” are defined or cross‑referenced consistent with G.S. 14‑86.5.
- Aggregation across multiple counties is permitted for organized retail theft; multiple counties have concurrent venue.
Who is affected
- Retailers, gift‑card issuers, and their customers — greater protection and potential civil recovery.
- Individuals engaged in shoplifting, fraud, or tampering with gift cards — heightened criminal exposure, especially repeat or organized offenders.
- Law enforcement and prosecutors — new statutory tools and aggregation rules for pursuing organized schemes that exploit gift cards.
- Courts — likely increased civil and criminal filings tied to gift‑card theft and related organized activity.
Potential impacts / considerations
- Intended to deter gift‑card fraud and organized retail crime by expanding criminal classifications and enabling aggregation to reach felony thresholds.
- May increase enforcement activity and prosecutions; retailers could pursue civil damages in addition to criminal charges.
- Aggregation across jurisdictions strengthens prosecutorial ability to address multi‑store/chain theft rings, but may raise evidentiary/venue complexities for investigation and prosecution.
- Effective date delay gives businesses and law‑enforcement agencies time to adapt procedures and training.
