NORTH CAROLINA IDENTITY THEFT RESULTS FROM COMPUTERS STOLEN AT BUSINESS News 14 Carolina | 24 Hour Local News | LOCAL NEWS | Identity thieves bypass security | Identity thieves bypass securityIdentity thieves bypass security
Updated: 6/15/2004 7:09 PM
By: Diana Rugg, News 14 Carolina

Identity Theft

One Charlotte man told police that his Bank of America credit card number was used to make purchases in Turkey.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- More than 250,000 people in North Carolina had their identities stolen last year.

But even though banks are beefing up security to protect their customers, some crafty thieves are finding a way around it.

"A lot of times it’s from restaurants,” said Detective Kevin Jones of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Fraud Unit. “Or people steal them out of the mail."

One Charlotte man told police that his Bank of America credit card number was used to make purchases in Turkey.

The man immediately called to cancel his card, but charges kept showing up for some reason.

Jones said the thief might have had more information to unblock the number.

"Date of birth, Social Security number, full name, address, phone number, work phone number … a lot of information needs to be had to do that,” Jones said. “And apparently this person had that information."

The victim said his identity might have been stolen from his employer’s computers in New Jersey. He said the computers were stolen in May and contained personal information about employees.


Detective Kevin Jones of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's Fraud Unit
“If it’s a well-known company, a large company, you could have thousands of employees' information within the strike of a key,” said Jones, who speculated that professional thieves might be to blame.

Most credit card companies, including Bank of America, will reimburse customers for fraudulent charges on their bank cards. Bank of America said that after a card is reported for fraud, the account is closed.

Jones said the best way to prevent identity theft is to be careful where you store your credit card numbers. You never know where they will end up.