In short
Act 62 of May 29, 1968, as amended, makes guilty of a misdemeanor any natural or legal person who attempts to defraud or is an accomplice to another in defrauding any person of any lawful charge, in whole or in part, for any telecommunications service, including the Internet, or who avoids or attempts to avoid or incites or assists another to avoid such charges: by charging that service to an existing account, telephone number or credit card without the legitimate subscriber’s or holder’s authorization; by charging it to a nonexistent, false, fictitious or forged account, number or card, or one that is suspended, rescinded, expired, cancelled or revoked; by using a code, preconceived device, or any stratagem or design by which that person in effect sends or receives information; or by restructuring, altering or connecting with facilities or equipment of a telephone company or telecommunications enterprise, whether physically, by induction, acoustically or electronically. The penalty depends on the amount: if the charge obtained or attempted does not exceed fifty dollars ($50), a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100) or up to thirty (30) days, or both; if it exceeds fifty dollars ($50), a fine of no less than one hundred dollars ($100) and no more than five hundred dollars ($500), or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both, at the court’s discretion.
What is it?
It is the criminal statute covering telecommunications and internet service fraud in Puerto Rico. It is from 1968, but its text was amended to name the Internet expressly, and its first scenario describes precisely what people report today: that someone charged a service to their account, their phone number or their card without the legitimate subscriber’s or holder’s authorization.
Who can do it?
Any natural or legal person who has been defrauded, or whom someone attempted to defraud, of a lawful charge for a telecommunications service, including the Internet. The law reaches both the person who commits the act and anyone who is an accomplice, incites or assists another in doing it.
Requirements
- That it involve a lawful charge for a telecommunications service, including the Internet.Verified against the official source
- That the conduct fall within one of Section 1’s four scenarios: a charge without the legitimate subscriber’s or holder’s authorization; a charge to a nonexistent, false, fictitious, forged, suspended, rescinded, expired, cancelled or revoked account, number or card; use of a code, device or stratagem to send or receive information; or restructuring, altering or connecting with a telecommunications company’s facilities or equipment.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Information pending verification.
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: The internet is named in the text
Worth saying because the law’s date misleads: Section 1 speaks of defrauding “of any lawful charge, in whole or in part, for any telecommunications service, including the Internet.” Nothing needs stretching; the amendment put it there.
Step 2: The most common scenario: an unauthorized charge
Subsection (a) describes charging that service “to an existing account, telephone number or credit card without the authorization of the legitimate subscriber or holder.” It is the scenario of a bill carrying services nobody in the household ordered.
Step 3: And the one with the invalid account or card
Subsection (b) covers charging the service to a nonexistent, false, fictitious or forged account, telephone number or credit card number, or to an account, number or card that is suspended, rescinded, expired, cancelled or revoked. The list is long on purpose.
Step 4: The penalty changes at fifty dollars
This is the detail worth knowing before reporting. When the charge for the service obtained, or attempted, does not exceed fifty dollars ($50): a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100), or imprisonment not exceeding thirty (30) days, or both at the court’s discretion. When it exceeds fifty dollars ($50): a fine of no less than one hundred dollars ($100) and no more than five hundred dollars ($500), or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both at the court’s discretion.
Step 5: The devices are an offense of their own
Section 2 punishes anyone who manufactures or possesses any instrument, apparatus, equipment or device designed, adapted or usable to fraudulently avoid a lawful charge for a telecommunications service, or to conceal — or assist another in concealing — from any service provider or any legal authority the existence or the place of origin or destination of any telecommunication. It also punishes selling, donating or transferring them, offering or advertising them, or planning or instructing their manufacture or assembly under circumstances evidencing that intent. Its penalty includes a fine of no less than five hundred dollars ($500) and no more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
Step 6: Where the report goes
It is a criminal matter, so the route is a report to the Puerto Rico Police, which we cover step by step in its own guide. Bring the bill or statement with the charges marked, the dates and any communication with the company. If you also want to dispute the charge itself, that is a separate consumer claim.
Where to do it
The Puerto Rico Police receives the criminal report. If yours is a scam or telemarketing call, that has its own guide; if it is a company leaking your data, that is the data breach guide; and if what you want is not to be recorded on a call, that is another law we also cover.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
A point of honesty about the compiled text. The prison penalty the compilation prints for Section 2 reads “a term of no less than three (3) and no more than one (1) year”: the text does not state the unit of the lower bound and, as printed, the range contradicts itself. We are not going to resolve it on our own or publish an invented reading; so from Section 2 we quote the fine range, which is clear — no less than $500 and no more than $1,000 — and we state that the term of imprisonment, as it appears in the compilation, is not legible without going to the law’s original text. Other limits: the law excludes from its provisions public service and emergency communications made by holders of valid amateur radio operator licences issued by the Federal Communications Commission without payment of charges by those holders, and clarifies that nothing in it excuses anyone from complying with any telecommunications company’s lawful tariffs. What we did not read: the Penal Code, any Telecommunications Bureau regulation, or federal telecommunications fraud law. So we do not describe the bill-dispute process before the company or the regulator, and we do not compare this law with federal law.
Common mistakes
- Believing a 1968 law does not cover the internet: the amended text names it expressly.
- Thinking only the person making the charge answers: the law reaches the accomplice and anyone who incites or assists.
- Ignoring that an attempt counts: the law speaks of attempting to defraud and of charges someone attempted to obtain.
- Reporting without the marked bill: the charge amount determines which penalty applies.
- Confusing the criminal report with the bill dispute: they are two separate steps.
- Assuming possessing the device is not an offense: Section 2 punishes it on its own.
Frequently asked questions
Does this law cover the internet or only the phone?
The current text speaks of “any telecommunications service, including the Internet.” The internet is named in Section 1 itself.
What penalty applies if the charge was small?
When the charge for the service obtained or attempted does not exceed fifty dollars ($50): a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100), or imprisonment not exceeding thirty (30) days, or both at the court’s discretion.
And if the charge exceeded fifty dollars?
A fine of no less than one hundred dollars ($100) and no more than five hundred dollars ($500), or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both at the court’s discretion.
Does the law excuse anyone from paying their bill?
No. The law itself provides that nothing established in it shall excuse any person from complying with any telecommunications company’s lawful tariffs.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Policía de Puerto Rico
Policía de PR
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
- Puerto Rico Police
Policía de Puerto Rico
policia.pr.gov
Last verified
August 24, 2026
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