What are the types of fraud charges in Texas?
Most sit in Penal Code chapter 32: forgery (§32.21), credit card abuse (§32.31), false statements to obtain credit (§32.32), bad checks (§32.41), and identity theft (§32.51). Insurance fraud and health care fraud have their own chapters, and mail or wire fraud makes the same conduct a federal case carrying up to 20 years.
- Chapter 32 is Texas fraud country, and most of its offenses grade by dollar value.
- Two grade differently: credit card abuse is a felony at any amount, identity theft counts items of information.
- Forgery of a check or deed starts at a felony even when the money is small.
- A bad check on its own is a Class C ticket. Prosecutors upgrade real cases to theft or forgery.
- Add one email or mailing and federal wire and mail fraud statutes reach the same facts.
Fraud is not one charge. It is a family of statutes, each with its own elements and its own punishment logic, and which one the State picks often matters more than the facts. This page maps them, with links to our deeper guides on each. Peter M. Barrett has defended fraud cases in state and federal court since 1994, with more than 150 jury trials. See our Dallas white collar crime defense page, and if a charge or an investigator has already appeared, start with what to do when facing a fraud charge.
Forgery, §32.21
Making, altering, signing or passing a writing so that it purports to be the act of another who did not authorise it, with intent to defraud or harm. The baseline is a state jail felony. It becomes a third degree felony when the writing is a will, deed, mortgage, security instrument, credit card, check or similar commercial instrument, and a second degree felony for money, securities, postage or government instruments. A signed name on the back of someone else's check is a felony before a dollar moves. Where the forgery was used to obtain property, a value ladder in §32.21(e-1) can adjust the grade in either direction.
Credit card or debit card abuse, §32.31
Using a card, or its number, without the cardholder's effective consent, with intent to obtain a benefit. There is no dollar threshold: it is a state jail felony whether the charge was $40 or $4,000, and a third degree felony when committed against an elderly person. This is the statute behind most "borrowed card" family disputes that end up criminal.
False statement to obtain property or credit, §32.32
A materially false or misleading statement made to obtain property or credit, including a mortgage loan. Graded strictly by value, Class C under $100 up to a first degree felony at $300,000 or more. This is the workhorse in loan application cases, and it is the statute our mortgage fraud guide is built around.
Issuance of a bad check, §32.41
Issuing a check knowing the account cannot cover it. On its own it is a Class C misdemeanor, a ticket, rising to Class B only for child support checks. The trap is that real money cases rarely stay here: a prosecutor who can prove intent charges theft by check or forgery instead, at the value-ladder grades. If you are being threatened with a felony over a bounced check, the charge selection itself is the first thing to challenge.
Fraudulent use or possession of identifying information, §32.51
Obtaining, possessing, transferring or using another person's identifying information without consent and with intent to harm or defraud. Texas grades it by the number of items: fewer than five is a state jail felony, five to nine a third degree felony, ten to forty-nine a second degree felony, and fifty or more a first degree felony. Names, dates of birth, SSNs and account numbers each count, so a single photographed document can carry multiple items. Full treatment in our identity theft guide.
Insurance fraud, §35.02, and health care fraud, §35A.02
Presenting a claim with false or misleading material information is graded on the value of the claim, Class C under $100 through first degree felony at $300,000 or more. Billing a health care program dishonestly has its own chapter with the same ladder plus claim-count triggers, covered in health care fraud in Texas. Exaggerating a storm claim and inflating a clinic's billing codes are, structurally, the same offense at different addresses.
The federal layer: mail and wire fraud
18 U.S.C. §1341 and §1343 reach any scheme to defraud that uses a mailing or an interstate wire, and in practice every email, text and transfer is a wire. Up to 20 years, and up to 30 years with a fine up to $1,000,000 where a financial institution is affected or the fraud relates to a declared disaster. Related federal territory we cover separately: embezzlement versus money laundering and bankruptcy fraud.
What every fraud statute shares
Each of these offenses requires intent to defraud or harm. That single element is where most defenses live: authorisation that existed when the act happened, statements believed true when made, value figures built on assumptions, and business failures recast as schemes. The person who signs a document sloppily and the person who forges one produce the same paper. The law separates them by state of mind, and the State has to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
Common questions
What dollar amount makes fraud a felony in Texas?
$2,500 is the felony line for the value-graded offenses like false statements and insurance fraud. Credit card abuse and forgery of a check are felonies with no minimum amount, and identity theft is graded by items of information rather than dollars.
Is writing a bad check a crime in Texas?
Issuing a check knowing it cannot clear is a Class C misdemeanor under section 32.41. Serious cases get charged as theft by check or forgery instead, which carry the value-ladder grades. An overdraft by mistake, without knowledge, is not an offense at all.
Is using someone else's credit card a felony even for a small purchase?
Yes. Section 32.31 has no dollar threshold, so any use without the cardholder's effective consent is at least a state jail felony. Consent is the usual battleground, because family members and partners share cards informally for years before someone calls it a crime.
What is the difference between state and federal fraud charges?
Mostly who investigates and what the exposure is. Texas grades by value ladders with defined ranges. Federal mail and wire fraud carry up to 20 years per count and use the sentencing guidelines, where the loss amount drives the sentence. The same conduct can be charged in either system, and occasionally both.
Can I be charged with fraud for a business deal that went bad?
Only if the State can prove you intended to deceive at the time, not merely that the deal failed. Optimistic projections, disputed invoices and unpaid debts are civil matters until intent to defraud is provable. Keeping that line bright is usually the core of the defense.
The law this article describes, at the source. Every figure above can be checked against it.
- Tex. Penal Code §32.21: forgery
- Tex. Penal Code §32.31: credit card or debit card abuse
- Tex. Penal Code §32.32: false statement to obtain property or credit
- Tex. Penal Code §32.41: issuance of a bad check
- Tex. Penal Code §32.51: fraudulent use or possession of identifying information
- Tex. Penal Code §35.02: insurance fraud
- Tex. Penal Code §35A.02: health care fraud
- 18 U.S.C. §1341: mail fraud
- 18 U.S.C. §1343: wire fraud
This article is general legal information about Texas and federal law, not legal advice about your case. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change, so confirm the current rule with a licensed criminal defense attorney about your specific facts. Request a free, confidential case review.