Unlawful collection practices · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 190.50 Unlawful collection practices.
A person is guilty of unlawful collection practices when, with intent to enforce a claim or judgment for money or property, he knowingly sends, mails or delivers to another person a notice, document or other instrument which has no judicial or official sanction and which in its format or appearance, simulates a summons, complaint, court order or process, or an insignia, seal or printed form of a federal, state or local government or an instrumentality thereof, or is otherwise calculated to induce a belief that such notice, document or instrument has a judicial or official sanction.
Unlawful collection practices is a class B misdemeanor.
With intent to enforce a money or property claim or judgment, a person commits unlawful collection practices by knowingly sending or delivering an unofficial document that looks like court process or a government form, seal, or insignia, or is otherwise designed to make someone believe it has official sanction. ★ It is a class B misdemeanor.
Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.
This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.