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Be wary of identity theft, police sayBy MIKE BRASSFIELD© St. Petersburg Times, published December 6, 2001 With 19 days left until Christmas, local police are warning shoppers to beware of the dangers of credit card fraud and identity theft. As evidence of the problem, they point to a St. Petersburg man who was arrested last Friday on charges of making fraudulent credit card purchases at a local Wal-Mart. Police say he had a list of 250 names, Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers of potential fraud victims. Jason R. Smith, 23, of 790 22nd Ave. S, was charged with identify theft, grand theft and credit card fraud. Police are investigating how he acquired so many people's personal information. Police say Smith's arrest should serve as a reminder not to give your Social Security number or driver's license number to anyone you don't know. Also, police recommend that you don't throw away credit card receipts without first tearing them up or making information on them unreadable. "Keep in mind, the criminal is looking for careless people," said St. Petersburg police spokesman George Kajtsa. There were more than 750,000 cases of identity theft in the United States last year, with a loss of more than $2-billion, according to government statistics. Identity thieves find personal information in many ways: from the Internet, from stolen mail, purses or wallets; or from receipts in business trash bins. Other local law enforcement agencies such as the Tampa Police Department and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office have put out similar warnings about the danger of con artists' getting your credit card number during the holidays. "This time of year, you're doing something that might be out of the ordinary -- you might be shopping a lot or using your credit cards a lot more," said Pinellas sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha. "We're all preoccupied with what we have to do, but you still have to remain focused on protecting your financial identity." She said that people should not keep credit cards in their cars.
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