Your Conveniences May Be Helping Identity Thieves

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Story Published: Dec 28, 2009 at 7:28 PM PDT

By Peter Bukowski

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YAKIMA COUNTY -- The season of giving, shouldn't involve gift-wrapping your personal information to thieves looking to use your personal information and credit card for a little holiday shopping.

"Fraud isn't just someone stealing a check and writing it. There's a lot of activity that people are into," Capt. Greg Copeland of the Yakima Police Department says.

And it's exploded in Yakima over the last decade, growing more than 10 times since '99. It may have something to do with the ease of credit card and ID theft.

Stew Graham, with Yakima Sheriff's Office says, "15 years ago there were some pretty serious risks involved in using or attempting to use a stolen credit card. Now there's almost no risks."

The convenience companies have created to make it easier for you to do business, may have actually made it easier for crooks. When you go to pay for something like gas, you don't ever need to see a person. Swipe your card and be on your way, whether the card belongs to you or not.

"If you had a credit card, you were almost always going to have to deal with a person at point of sale and now there are many many many ways in which you don't have to see a person at point of sale," Graham explains.

It may be even easier to get the information. A check in them mail with the flag raised might as well be a bull's-eye for people looking to rip you off.

"We do see quite a bit of that mail theft going on. And sometimes people can get some good information if they've got a credit card being delivered to a location," Copeland says.

If you can, bank online. And pick up your checks or debit cards instead of having them delivered. Your e-mail inbox may be overrun with potential scams, but the mailbox outside your house may offer thieves an even easier way in.

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