THOMASVILLE — By phone, by traditional mail, by email and by texts, identity theft victimizes the young, the old and all ages in between, law enforcement officials said.

“ID theft and the scams are intentional, with numerous different ways bad guys can victimize their victims,” said Lt. Toby Knifer, Thomasville Police Department Criminal Investigations Division commander.

Prevalent now among ID theft methods are phone calls about vehicle warranties, callers claiming to represent Social Security and other scams threatening the victim that if money is not received, the victim will be arrested

The Social Security office will not call and make threats, Knifer said. 

“They do not work that way,” he said.

Those after a quick buck will tell the victim to purchase gifts cards to pay off a debt, Knifer said. 

“Then they have bank information, a form of ID theft,” he added.

Some ID theft cases begin in garbage cans.

Credit card companies send credit card applications as a means of soliciting customers. If the applications are not disposed of properly, Knifer said, ID thieves can retrieve them from trash, fill out the applications and establish credit in the victim’s name.

When the victim applies for credit to buy a house or car, they become aware of debts resulting from someone filling out the credit card application they threw away.

Students loans also are obtained by ID thieves, the commander added.

“They will steal your information any way they can,” he said.

Discarded mail should be shredded to prevent identity theft. If a shredder is not available, the mail should be torn or cut up in small pieces.

If someone is suspicious about an email allegedly from their bank, the individual should contact the bank to ensure they have not been contacted by someone attempting to hijack their bank information, Knifer said.

Police criminal investigations conducts several identity theft seminars annually for the public, businesses and nursing homes.

A seminar was conducted this year before the COVID-19 pandemic struck and prevented the events the remainder of 2020.

“We will resume when restrictions are lifted,” Knifer said. 

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820