DANIEL ISLAND, SC - Kevin Reed has a construction business out of Daniel Island. Always eager to try a new place to eat lunch, in April he went to the new Honeycomb Café.

The next day his business debit card was somehow used to make about $1,100 worth of purchases in Florida.

“About 12 charges to Walmart, Footlocker and 7-11 on my card,” explains Reed.

His bank's fraud department froze the account and gave him a call to let him know what was happening.

The bank officer also told him he wasn't the only person on Daniel Island with a similar problem at around the same time period.

“She mentioned that they'd had a number of customers in from other places on Daniel Island; the Dragon Palace restaurant and one of the movie rental boxes,” says Reed.

City of Charleston police say they are investigating any connections and checking into the most common ways identity theft happens.

Among the possible tactics, crime prevention specialist Sgt. Trevor Shelor says someone might have been rummaging through trash for personal information, or they could have bought a skimmer device online.

Those can be secretly attached to card swipes at gas stations or ATMs and some models could even fit in a server's pocket at a restaurant.

“The best way to protect yourself is to educate yourself on how identity thieves operate,” says Shelor.

The Federal Trade Commission set up a one stop website full of resources at ftc.gov/idtheft.

One of the first recommendations is to regularly check transactions on your accounts.

“Be careful with your stuff,” reminds Shelor, “cause that bitty little bit of plastic has got your whole life wrapped up in it.”

If you ever become a victim of identity theft you should file a police report so you have a paper record of the crime.

The police record can be used to fix your credit report and there’s always a chance police find a lead.

“In a lot of cases, there is almost nothing that can be investigated out, but sometimes there is, so at least call an officer to your house or business to tell us about it,” says Shelor.

Kevin Reed says he was fortunate his bank found the fraud before the thief cleared out his account.

Now with money restored, he's just scratching his head how the whole thing happened.

“It's just too ironic to have that many people affected in that small of an area,” says Reed, “it's just amazing to me that people can get all your information without your card leaving your wallet, it's a little frightening.”

Source: http://www2.counton2.com/news/2011/may/19/3/several-identify-thefts-linked-daniel-island-ar-1865734/

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