If someone committed credit card fraud 5 years ago, can they still be prosecuted now?

In China, the statute of limitations for credit card fraud is determined by the maximum penalty for the crime as specified in the Criminal Law. According to Article 87 of the Criminal Law, if the maximum punishment for a crime is not less than five years but not more than ten years of imprisonment, the追诉 period is ten years. For credit card fraud, Article 196 of the Criminal Law stipulates that if the amount involved is relatively large (usually more than 5,000 yuan), the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention. However, since the maximum penalty for this level of offense is close to five years, the applicable追诉 period is ten years.

In your friend’s case, since the fraud occurred five years ago, the追诉 period has not yet expired. They should report the case to the local police immediately and provide relevant evidence such as bank statements, transaction records, and any other proof of unauthorized use. Additionally, they should contact their credit card issuing bank to explain the situation and request a dispute of the fraudulent transactions. It is important to act quickly to preserve evidence and increase the chances of holding the offender accountable. Even if the police cannot identify the suspect immediately, filing a report will help in case new evidence emerges later.