California Codes

Cal. Penal Code § 502.7 (2026)

✓ current as of May 2026

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(a)Any person who, knowingly, willfully, and with intent to defraud a person providing telephone or telegraph service, avoids or attempts to avoid, or aids, abets or causes another to avoid the lawful charge, in whole or in part, for telephone or telegraph service by any of the following means is guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony, except as provided in subdivision (g):

(1)By charging the service to an existing telephone number or credit card number without the authority of the subscriber thereto or the lawful holder thereof.

(2)By charging the service to a nonexistent telephone number or credit card number, or to a number associated with telephone service which is suspended or terminated, or to a revoked or canceled (as distinguished from expired) credit card number, notice of the suspension, termination, revocation, or cancellation of the telephone service or credit card having been given to the subscriber thereto or the holder thereof.

(3)By use of a code, prearranged scheme, or other similar stratagem or device whereby the person, in effect, sends or receives information.

(4)By rearranging, tampering with, or making connection with telephone or telegraph facilities or equipment, whether physically, electrically, acoustically, inductively, or otherwise, or by using telephone or telegraph service with knowledge or reason to believe that the rearrangement, tampering, or connection existed at the time of the use.

(5)By using any other deception, false pretense, trick, scheme, device, conspiracy, or means, including the fraudulent use of false, altered, or stolen identification.

(b)Any person who does either of the following is guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony, except as provided in subdivision (g):

(1)Makes, possesses, sells, gives, or otherwise transfers to another, or offers or advertises any instrument, apparatus, or device with intent to use it or with knowledge or reason to believe it is intended to be used to avoid any lawful telephone or telegraph toll charge or to conceal the existence or place of origin or destination of any telephone or telegraph message.

(2)Sells, gives, or otherwise transfers to another or offers, or advertises plans or instructions for making or assembling an instrument, apparatus, or device described in paragraph (1) of this subdivision with knowledge or reason to believe that they may be used to make or assemble the instrument, apparatus, or device.

(c)Any person who publishes the number or code of an existing, canceled, revoked, expired, or nonexistent credit card, or the numbering or coding which is employed in the issuance of credit cards, with the intent that it be used or with knowledge or reason to believe that it will be used to avoid the payment of any lawful telephone or telegraph toll charge is guilty of a misdemeanor. Subdivision (g) shall not apply to this subdivision. As used in this section, “publishes” means the communication of information to any one or more persons, either orally, in person or by telephone, radio, or television, or electronic means, including, but not limited to, a bulletin board system, or in a writing of any kind, including without limitation a letter or memorandum, circular or handbill, newspaper, or magazine article, or book.

(d)Any person who is the issuee of a calling card, credit card, calling code, or any other means or device for the legal use of telecommunications services and who receives anything of value for knowingly allowing another person to use the means or device in order to fraudulently obtain telecommunications services is guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony, except as provided in subdivision (g).

(e)Subdivision (a) applies when the telephone or telegraph communication involved either originates or terminates, or both originates and terminates, in this state, or when the charges for service would have been billable, in normal course, by a person providing telephone or telegraph service in this state, but for the fact that the charge for service was avoided, or attempted to be avoided, by one or more of the means set forth in subdivision (a).

(f)Jurisdiction of an offense under this section is in the jurisdictional territory where the telephone call or telegram involved in the offense originates or where it terminates, or the jurisdictional territory to which the bill for the service is sent or would have been sent but for the fact that the service was obtained or attempted to be obtained by one or more of the means set forth in subdivision (a).

(g)Theft of any telephone or telegraph services under this section by a person who has a prior misdemeanor or felony conviction for theft of services under this section within the past five years, is a felony.

(h)Any person or telephone company defrauded by any acts prohibited under this section shall be entitled to restitution for the entire amount of the charges avoided from any person or persons convicted under this section.

(i)Any instrument, apparatus, device, plans, instructions, or written publication described in subdivision (b) or (c) may be seized under warrant or incident to a lawful arrest, and, upon the conviction of a person for a violation of subdivision (a), (b), or (c), the instrument, apparatus, device, plans, instructions, or written publication may be destroyed as contraband by the sheriff of the county in which the person was convicted or turned over to the person providing telephone or telegraph service in the territory in which it was seized.

(j)Any computer, computer system, computer network, or any software or data, owned by the defendant, which is used during the commission of any public offense described in this section or any computer, owned by the defendant, which is used as a repository for the storage of software or data illegally obtained in violation of this section shall be subject to forfeiture.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 10 cases, 1969–2017 · leading case: People v. Rousseau, 129 Cal. App. 3d 526 (Cal. Ct. App. 1982).

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People v. Rousseau, 129 Cal. App. 3d 526 (Cal. Ct. App. 1982). · cites it 6× “Code, § 484) whereas he should have been charged under the special statute covering telephone fraud (Pen. Code, § 502.7). Appellant was charged with and found *534 guilty of violating Penal Code section 484: “Every person .”

People v. Butler, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2050 (Cal. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 2× “(c)) and two misdemeanor counts of possession of an instrument with the intent to avoid a lawful telephone charge (Pen. Code, § 502.7, subd. (b)(1)). 1 The criminal charges all arose out of his possession of two cloned cellular phones.”

Hudson v. Superior Court of Riverside Cnty., 7 Cal. App. 5th 999 (Cal. Ct. App. 2017). “) Similarly, the Butler court, asked to decide whether the Williamson rule barred prosecution for both obtaining telephone services by fraud (Pen. Code, § 502.7, subd. (b)(1)) and theft of access cards (Pen.”

Karen Kennedy v. Los Angeles Police Dep't City of Los Angeles James J. King Stanley A. Schott, 901 F.2d 702 (9th Cir. 1990). “Code § 25541 (West 1977), conspiracy to restrain trade, Cal.Bus. & Prof.Code § 16755 (West 1987), falsification of accounts by public officials, Cal.”

Karen Kennedy v. Los Angeles Police Dep't City of Los Angeles James J. King Stanley A. Schott, 887 F.2d 920 (9th Cir. 1989). “Code § 25541 (West 1977), conspiracy to restrain trade, Cal.Bus. & Prof.Code § 16755 (West 1987), falsification of accounts by public officials, Cal.”

People v. Garber, 275 Cal. App. 2d 119 (Cal. Ct. App. 1969). “2); of conspiracy to obtain telephone service by fraud (Pen. Code, § 502.7, subd. (a), 502.7, subd.”

Kennedy v. Los Angeles Police Dep't, 667 F. Supp. 697 (C.D. Cal. 1987). “Code § 16755 (West 1987), falsification of accounts by public officials, Penal Code § 424, fraudulently obtaining over $400 in telephone services, Penal Code § 502.7, and bribery of an officer in a financial institution, Penal Code § 639.”

People v. Schmidt, 83 Cal. App. 3d 968 (Cal. Ct. App. 1978). “Code, § 11359), and unlawful possession of a “black box”—a device to avoid telephone toll charges (Pen. Code, § 502.7, subd. (b)(1)). The People assert the trial court erred when it held a search warrant defective and suppressed evidence of items seized pursuant to the warrant…”

P. v. Ramirez CA2/2 (Cal. Ct. App. 2013). “He pled nolo contendere to two counts of using a device to defraud a telephone company (Pen. Code, § 502.7, subd. (a)(5))1 (counts 1 & 3) and to three counts of identity theft (§ 530.”

People v. Crossdale, 105 Cal. Rptr. 2d 622 (Cal. Ct. App. 2001). “In addition, unlike Welfare and Institutions Code section 14014, Penal Code section 502.7 does not include the qualifying words "depending upon the amount paid," following the wording "guilty of a misdemeanor or felony," which the court in Douglas found tended to support the…”

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