According to Kimball police chief Mark Simpson, scammers have attempted to steal identity or credit card information from both individuals and businesses recently.

Several of these attempts follow along the lines of new scamming trends experienced nationally. In one, the instigators claim to be involved in an investigation of a person. Another centers around supposed unpaid citations. A particularly disturbing effort attempts to capture information from credit card readers.

Simpson explains that in this particular scam, a person calls a local business claiming they are performing routine electronic maintenance and need the serial number off the credit card reader. He urges anyone employed in businesses that use such equipment to avoid providing information over the phone--and to immediately notify the police department.

The other efforts target individuals. In one, the scammer will call claiming to work for the local court or for a state or federal government entity. He or she informs the potential victim that they failed to report for jury duty, failed to pay a citation or in some variations are being investigated for a minor criminal act that may have some validity. Their stories generally lead to a point where a warrant has been issued (or that the “department” might seek a warrant) if the victim fails to verify their personal information and/or pay a fine with a check or credit card.  Personal information, such as place of birth, address, driver’s license and especially social security numbers are often more than enough for another person to open bank accounts.

Simpson suggests that you ask for a government or state identification number of the party who is calling you. If they are indeed a legitimate, they will not mind you calling the FBI or local police station to verify the information.

If you feel you are being scammed call the Kimball police department with the information given to you or the number that appears on your caller ID.

According to Bureau of Justice statistics, an estimated 8.6 million households had at least one person experience identity theft in 2010, up from 6.4 million five years earlier. The number of households reporting misuse of an existing credit card rose to 5.5 million in the same year.

American families lost approximately $13.3 billion to identity theft in 2010, averaging close to $2,200 per victimized household.

The Identity Theft Resource Center claims that hacking still accounts for the largest number of credit card breaches.

Bureau findings are based on data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), an annual survey of about 46,000 households nationwide that collects information on crimes reported and not reported to the police. Findings on identity theft are based on the reports by the head of each household on the experiences of all household members age 12 or older.