N.Y. Penal Law § 170.00: Forgery; definitions of terms

§ 170.00 Forgery; definitions of terms.

1. "Written instrument" means any instrument or article, including

computer data or a computer program, containing written or printed

matter or the equivalent thereof, used for the purpose of reciting,

embodying, conveying or recording information, or constituting a symbol

or evidence of value, right, privilege or identification, which is

capable of being used to the advantage or disadvantage of some person.

For the purposes of this article, a card provided to a person by a

vaccine provider indicating the date a person received a vaccination

against COVID-19, the type of vaccine and its lot number, and bearing a

government logo or other indication that it is created by a governmental

instrumentality, shall be considered a written instrument.

2. "Complete written instrument" means one which purports to be a

genuine written instrument fully drawn with respect to every essential

feature thereof. An endorsement, attestation, acknowledgment or other

similar signature or statement is deemed both a complete written

instrument in itself and a part of the main instrument in which it is

contained or to which it attaches.

3. "Incomplete written instrument" means one which contains some

matter by way of content or authentication but which requires additional

matter in order to render it a complete written instrument.

4. "Falsely make." A person "falsely makes" a written instrument when

he makes or draws a complete written instrument in its entirety, or an

incomplete written instrument, which purports to be an authentic

creation of its ostensible maker or drawer, but which is not such either

because the ostensible maker or drawer is fictitious or because, if

real, he did not authorize the making or drawing thereof.

5. "Falsely complete." A person "falsely completes" a written

instrument when, by adding, inserting or changing matter, he transforms

an incomplete written instrument into a complete one, without the

authority of anyone entitled to grant it, so that such complete

instrument appears or purports to be in all respects an authentic

creation of or fully authorized by its ostensible maker or drawer.

6. "Falsely alter." A person "falsely alters" a written instrument

when, without the authority of anyone entitled to grant it, he changes a

written instrument, whether it be in complete or incomplete form, by

means of erasure, obliteration, deletion, insertion of new matter,

transposition of matter, or in any other manner, so that such instrument

in its thus altered form appears or purports to be in all respects an

authentic creation of or fully authorized by its ostensible maker or

drawer.

7. "Forged instrument" means a written instrument which has been

falsely made, completed or altered.

8. "Electronic access device" means a mobile identification number or

electronic serial number that can be used to obtain telephone service.