LAPD News:
The Los Alamos Police Department has been receiving a higher volume of reports of fraudulent charges to credit card purchases from citizens and visitors to the community and the LAPD Investigations Division has been looking into the matter.
“We understand there has been a lot of ‘online’ communication amongst local victims who have had their credit cards used fraudulently in other states,” Cmdr. Oliver Morris said. “We would like these victim’s to come to the Los Alamos Police Department and ask to speak to a detective.”
There has not been one instance reported to LAPD of a debit card being compromised, Morris said. The fraudulent activity appears to mimic the crime of “carding” where criminals can capture information off the magnetic strip of a credit card then sell that information to other hackers online so that they can clone the card and attempt to use it elsewhere.
Morris asks citizens who plan to speak with a detective at the police department to have the following information ready:
- Current credit card statement (including fraudulent charges);
- Current card usage history; and
- Cancelled credit card number.
