A new task force to fight financial crime here in southwest Louisiana was sworn in this morning all in a effort to stop identity theft.
Consumer fraud and identity theft are becoming an epidemic in local communities. Maggie Laland says her mother has been hit by identity thieves three times.
"Two times, it just came up randomly on her credit card. She would get a bunch of bills from Wal-Mart, and restaurants." said Laland.
Laland says these incidents have her afraid to even use her credit card.
"I hate it, I check my credit card bill every month, but i'm not really good at checking my debit account and things take so long to process online that i'm sure there's been times when things have slipped by a lot of people and they don't realize it." said Laland.
Leonard Maughan says he never imagined he would be an identity theft victim after his credit card was used after a random number try in Canada.
"I thought, you know, never gonna happen to me. You never think somebody's gonna use your card when it's in your back pocket."
A new task force has been formed here in Southwest Louisiana that will cover 20 parishes. This division of the secret service which focus on all forms of identity theft crimes that have a community impact."
"It will allow them to talk among each other with financial crimes." said Valez.
Valez says the new task force which consists of local detectives will protect against repeat identity thieves in the area will touch the gammit of anything financial.
"From the Texas border to the Mississippi border all the way to Shreveport, we'll all be tied in."
The new task force which consists of 11 law enforcement agencies will go through training classes. They will not only be able to protect their communities against identity fraud, but be a source of information on how to protect yourself.
http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=9661409
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