Bethel Park reporting rampant credit card fraud

PITTSBURGH — A week after several Pittsburgh communities issued warnings about large numbers of identity theft, the Bethel Park Police Department said that municipality has seen a surge of cases.

In a Facebook post, police said the reports are linked to Chase accounts.

Residents are receiving debit cards in the mail which they did not apply for, and most of them are issued through Chase Bank. In Bethel Park, police have taken nearly 300 such reports in the past month, and local police are working with federal investigators to track down the source of the theft.

The department issued a number of steps people should take if they think they have been a victim of this fraud:

• Contact the card company to have the account closed
• Make a report with your local police department
• Report the fraud to the three major credit bureaus: Equifax: http://www.equifax.com/.../credit.../credit-fraud-alerts/ or 1-800-525-6285; Experian: www.experian.com/fraud/center.html or 1-888-397-3742; TransUnion: www.transunion.com/fraud-alerts or 1-800-680-7289
• Request your credit report from any of the credit bureaus or at www.annualcreditreport.com
• Close unauthorized accounts and notify those financial institutions
• Report identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at www.identitytheft.gov or 1-877-438-4338
• Report identity theft to PA Office of Attorney General at www.attorneygeneral.gov/protect-yourself/identity-theft/ or 1-717-787-3391
• Notify the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) www.ic3.gov

The Secret Service is now involved in the investigation.

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