Theft is alive and well even in small communities and seaside vacation destinations like Cape Cod and Nantucket.  In the past several weeks we have seen a rise in fradulent transactions going through customer bank and credit card accounts.  With the busy summer season upon us we must be more careful than ever.  One of the most common means of fraud we have seen in the last several weeks has been a scam where a clerk or agent of a local business will steal a check you have written out to a local business.  They then take that check and make payments by phone or purchases with a check by phone using your information.  We have seen this on several occations.  This is considered identity theft by the federal trade commission and should be reported to both local athorities as well as the business where your check was stolen from, and your bank or credit card company.  This activity is fairly easy to detect on your accounts.  Be on the look out for checks that clear for amounts other than you have in your register, checks that clear to businesses you have not frequented and checks that appear as debits on your statements.  Depending on how the check was used to commit fraud finding the perpatrator can be relatively easy.  Many times when a check is used to pay something by phone the account number, transaction id, or even account holders name will appear in your bank records.  In the days of social networking you may even be able to facebook the name and find the perpatrator.

There have been over 9 million victims of identity theft for two years running.

(Better Business Bureau and Javelin Strategy & Research, January 2005)

There have been over 30 million victims in the past five years.

Federal Trade Commission, 2003 and Better Business Bureau, 2005)

Protect yourself by reviewing statements regularly and set your online banking to alert you or email you to account activity on a regular basis.