ID Theft Increasing in West Richland

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By Chelsea Kopta

Story Published: Jan 29, 2010 at 7:33 PM PDT

WEST RICHLAND -- Identity theft first made big headlines in West Richland more than a year ago. The mother-daughter duo, Cynthia walker and Cassidy Janosky, were busted for several counts of mail fraud and identity theft in 2008.

A year later, the crime is still rampant in the city.

"We get people almost daily coming in with their bank account records showing they didn't charge something," said acting West Richland Police Chief Rick Morrell.

While West Richland boasts one of the lowest crime rates in the Tri Cities, Morrell said it's not uncommon to have 20 victims a week walk through their doors. KEPR Action News spoke to one victim, Sarah Clark, who found a charge for $75 at a gas station in Chicago.

"It's really scary," she said. "I mean, you think about protecting your home and locking your doors and keeping bad people out or thieves out but with that kind of thing there's really nothing you can do to protect yourself."

West Richland police said homeowners could rest a little easier if they had a traditional, unlocking mail box since there hasn't been a reported mail theft in months. But now the question police are asking themselves is: if criminals are not stealing information from your mailbox, where are they getting it?

"Most of the time people have the ATM card with them," Morrell said. "We don't know how they get the numbers, we don't know where they come from, we don't know if they're getting it offline, of people are buying it offline."

Indeed, tracking down criminals who are stealing identities online is an incredibly challenging task. Detectives spend hours pouring over bank statements and documents but often only lead to dead-ends.

Clark got lucky. Her credit and identity were spared. "it makes you definitely more concerned and more cautious."

So what is the best defense against getting ripped off? Police said you should always check your credit score and bank records, plus, file a report. Once police have investigated, banks often pay you back.

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