ID Fraud, Theft Cases Reported

Two local resident have recently been the victim of identity fraud, but the circumstances of each case are somewhat different. IN the first case, Ronda resident Catherine Griffith reported to deputies on Wednesday that she had gone to the bank to take out a loan, and when the bank pulled up her credit report, there was a credit card account on it she knew nothing about. She believes she knows who obtained the information from her necessary to open the card account,a nd she's provided the man's name to the sheriff's department. They are not releasing it at this time due to the ongoing investigation.

In the second case, Millers Creek resident Perry Phillips reported ID theft after his bank called him, asking about his recent credit card usage. Phillips say he had not used the card in question at the businesses that had billed transactions to it. The bank stopped payment on the items, and also stopped an in-progress transaction that was to post the next day. He did some more research, and found two places online that the card had also been used to buy items. He has no idea how someone would have gotten the number, and the pattern of places the card was used from doesn't provide any hints. Some of the purchases were made by a person in California, and others were made by a resident of Germany. Deputies say there are no suspects identified at this point.