I know you've all heard about how thieves have scanners that can capture our credit card numbers for sale to other thieves who use them to create new credit cards.

My nearest town has only 50,000 residents but in the last 17 days there have been at least 700 reported cases of stolen credit and debit card numbers. My friend Diane is one of the victims. She found out about this identity theft when she tried to use her credit card and it was refused because the credit card company had shut it off after someone used a card with the same number to purchase $200 something in merchandise at a Target in Columbus, Ohio.

The other fraudulent purchases have been made all over the United States and Mexico, but none of them in Colorado.

The local police are understandably overwhelmed and have been unable to identify a pattern. Much of the time we hear that a database was hacked into, for example, and we are told that credit cards used at a given merchant during a specific time period have been compromised. In this case there has been nothing like this - no common merchant, some are debit cards, different issuing companies, and so on - and some of the victims don't use their cards all that often, so don't know when the number was available for stealing.

Here is the latest development in Diane's own words. I'm including the whole thing so you get the flavor of what it's like to talk to Diane:

"Hi there,

Haven't heard from you - everything ok? Wait until you hear my latest....

I opened my emails Sunday since I am checking everything over and over and I had a receipt from Kmart. I usually just delete all of that stuff without even opening it but the word receipt caught my attention. Glad I did. It was a receipt for Sunday evening at 5:30 for a can of Raid. They had given me points on my reward card and charged it.

I haven't been in Kmart for weeks so that was peculiar. I checked my Rewards card, which I have had for two years or more and the number did not match. Checked my credit card and bank card. Numbers did not match. Odd.

I went up there yesterday and while I was talking to a manager, someone fell at the cash register and hit the floor so they had to stop and call the ambulance. Took more than 8 minutes to get there. Always a story when I am involved. Sure you want to be my friend?

Anyway back to the story. They ran a copy of the transaction. It was for $5.98 and you don't have to sign for those. So off I went to the police station. While I was there, 8 people came in to file more fraud reports and the lady next to me (older) had checks from Wells Fargo cashed in Pennsylvania. That was a new twist since she has not been out of the
state and no one near her checks.

Once I got in there, Kmart had confirmed that the Rewards card was in Rebecca's name (Diane's daughter). She has never had one and doesn't have a credit card. So it appears that someone has acquired a credit card in her name or mine and was running a test charge. A policeman there had someone do that to him last week along with using three other cards but they were all used out of state.

The police called Kmart and had them pull the security tape and were going to see if they could ID the person.

In the meantime, I checked with our banks and pulled credit reports. Nothing, so now we have a new mystery. I guess until I get a bill for a fortune, there is nothing I can do. Like I told Hank, at my age if it ruins my credit so be it but it is frustrating. That was my entire day yesterday. Yuck....

They told me the fraud cases were up to 700, they have no leads, the Feds are involved and it is a mess. Guess I will have to just carry cash and that will be a pain.

Take care, my friend. Hope to hear from you.

Love,
Diane"

I'm encouraged by this because this is the first local use of stolen data. Maybe the thieves have made a fatal mistake and will be caught. Meanwhile, I'm not buying anything in that town, and using cash everywhere else. Everyone in this area is compulsively checking their credit card and bank accounts online - many times a day. I haven't looked at mine in a couple hours, time to do it again.