Patterns behind the charge
Credit card fraud allegations cover a wide range of conduct. Restaurant and retail workers are sometimes accused when card data from their register shows up in fraudulent purchases. Others are accused after packages bought with someone else's card were delivered to their address, or after using a company card for purchases the employer later calls personal. Disputing legitimate charges with your issuer to get money back can also be treated as fraud. New York prosecutes much of this conduct under its own laws, and federal access device charges are common when card numbers were trafficked, manufactured, or used in volume.
What links you to the card
These cases often rest on circumstantial links: an IP address, a shipping address, a phone number on an account, a face on a store camera. Each link can have an innocent explanation, such as a shared network, a building where packages land in a common room, or a family member using your device. Gather anything that shows where you were and what you were doing at the times in question, along with receipts, work schedules, and account login records you can reach. If your employer has started its own review, keep your personal records but ask before taking anything that belongs to the company. Do not contact the cardholder or the merchant to explain.
Questions for the first meeting
We begin with what you are charged with or asked about and which agency is involved, since a local police case and a federal investigation are very different. We look at how the alleged loss was counted, because totals in card cases sometimes include transactions never connected to you. We also ask about immigration status, jobs in financial services, and any license, since a fraud record can matter there long after the case ends. If restitution becomes part of a resolution, we discuss how it is handled through the case rather than directly with anyone. Then we set out what happens next and when you need to appear.
