Increases the degree of the crime of fraudulent accosting

Title of bill

An act to amend the penal law, in relation to increasing the criminal penalty for fraudulent accosting from class A misdemeanor to class E felony

Summary

This bill would amend section 165.30 of the Penal Law to increase the criminal penalty for fraudulent accosting from Class A misdemeanor to Class E felony.

Justification

Confidence games, by their very nature, fall into that category of crimes least reported. This fact, coupled with the difficulties in detecting many of the schemes, has proven to be a particularly vexing problem for law enforcement.

The problem takes on added seriousness because the elderly are often the victims and are the least likely to afford the loss of substantial amounts of money. The apparent success of confidence games is dramatically shown when compared, on a monetary basis, to the highly visible crime of a bank robbery. Statewide, over $2 million a year is taken in bank robberies; however, confidence schemes steal an equal amount of money.

Due to the misdemeanor classification of the present fraudulent accosting provision, many con artists are encouraged to perpetuate their schemes because they can often plea bargain to a lesser charge and in many cases only pay a fine. The approach stage of a confidence game, dealt with by this section of law, is a critical approach to protecting the public from such schemes. The enactment of this legislation will make law enforcement efforts to curb this type of crime more effective.

Fiscal implication

None.

Effective date

The first day of November after it has become a law.