In order to address rising fraud cases and new criminal tactics, laws on credit card fraud taking effect today were updated to clearly define – for the first time – baleful credit overdraft, China's central bank and two central judicial bodies announced on Tuesday.

The definition of baleful credit overdraft is when a credit card holder does not pay off an overdraft within 30 days of receiving a second collection notice from the bank.

The announcement came after China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) announced a judicial interpretation on the same day that clarifies several Criminal Law articles concerning credit card fraud.

The central bank said in a statement on its website that it would work with relative departments to cleanse illegal advertisements concerning credit cards on press media and websites. It would also closely work with the Ministry of Public Security in a 10-month campaign to fight bank card-related crimes.

Meanwhile, upon publication of the legal interpretation concerning credit card-related crimes, the central bank would work to educate the public on the right use of bank cards, the statement said.

Under the interpretation, offenders could face more than 10 years in jail or even life imprisonment, as well as a fine as high as 500,000 yuan (73,200 U.S. dollars), if a case involves more than 25 fake credit cards, according to the legal document, which will become effective on Wednesday.

Card users could be charged if he or she intentionally delays the payment three months after the second notice of card-issuing bank arrives.

Xiong Xuanguo, vice president of the SPC, told a press conference that credit card fraud had been on the rise in recent years as the bank card service expanded rapidly in China.

"Card fraudulence, such as using fake ID to apply a card or withdrawing a large amount of money with faked cards, has become so rampant that it even develops as an industry," Xiong said.

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