By Lacie Morrison
lmorrison@mineralwellsindex.com

A group of First State Bank customers became victims of debit card fraud recently after their card numbers were somehow compromised and thousands of dollars in charges were made on their accounts. The Mineral Wells Police Department is investigating.

Mineral Wells Police Lt. Patrick Adams confirmed Thursday there are between 20 and 30 reports “that we’ve been contacted by the account holders in regards to fraudulent charges and unauthorized charges to their accounts. We are actively investigating those complaints.”

FSB President Riley Peveto told the Index, “It is our suspicion that a small number of the bank’s customers had their debit card numbers lifted or compromised somewhere throughout the card payment system.”

He added, “It is important to note that this activity was not identity theft nor a security breach at First State Bank. Our staff noticed the fraudulent activity quickly and acted to immediately cancel the affected cards to ensure the security and safety of our customer transactions.”

“The bank stepped in early,” Adams said, noting that they first saw reports trickle in at the end of September. “The bank did a very good job of correcting and stopping this. Once they recognized it, they did a really good job of catching it initially.”

“I am very proud of the staff’s response to the issue,” Peveto said. “We immediately talked to our customers personally and asked them to come into the bank to get a temporary card and began the process of expediting the request for a replacement card since most of our customers use them so frequently.”

With the roughly two dozen accounts that were accessed, Adams estimated that more than $10,000 was fraudulently used and included charges outside of Texas.

According to Peveto, the victims “did not lose any money because our policy is to refund the fraudulent charges immediately and because we acted so quickly, the bank’s losses are minimal and will be further reduced as we dispute the fraudulent charges.”

The question of how the account numbers were accessed remains unanswered as police report they’ve been unable to pinpoint where the breach occurred.

“That’ll be the biggest part of it,” Adams said. “We’re going to get in contact with MasterCard’s fraud investigation agency and the larger corporation and department stores’ fraud investigation agency to track down information [and] how it was used in their establishments.

“There’s no telling how wide or broad it [the investigation] may lead us.”

“A case of this magnitude is a very difficult case to investigate because of the area where information can be lost or compromised,” Adams said. “It is the intent of our office to investigate as far as we can.”

According to uniform crime reports for 2007, Palo Pinto County cleared 12 percent of their 53 larceny cases. In Mineral Wells, 16 percent of the 537 larceny cases were cleared while Weatherford saw 17 percent of their 607 larceny cases cleared.

The lieutenant confirmed that, “at this time, with this number, we’ve not been notified by any other institution inside our jurisdiction” of other banks encountering this problem.

As to what charges could be pursued in this case, Adams said, “At the minimum, we’ve got debit card abuse or credit card abuse which is a state jail felony.”

With news reports periodically cropping up in various parts of the country about identity theft and credit card theft, Mineral Wells isn’t immune from the problem though police officials don’t see something of this size on a regular basis.

“Something like this is a rarity,” confirmed Adams, adding that they usually see one or two cases of theft as the result of a home or vehicle burglary. “Some of its known suspects” where they personally know the victim, such as a family member, he said.

Vigilance is apparently the best way to minimize the chances of becoming a victim of fraud or identify theft.

“Even though this situation was identified and handled quickly with very little loss to the bank, it does illustrate how important it is for all of us to handle our card transactions with care,” Peveto commented. “We should always keep our cards in a secure location, watch the activity on our accounts through online banks or telephone banking and by checking with the staff at the bank.”

He added, “I want to emphasize that we should never give our personal information such as Social Security numbers, card numbers, PIN numbers to someone we do not know and also keep in mind, the bank would never call or e-mail a customer asking for such information. The bad guys are smart and we must be smarter.”

Adams suggested people should “attempt to not let your personal financial information out of your possession – papers, bank statements. A shredder is a wise investment.

“In today’s time and with the technology available, we need to be sure to protect all aspects of identifying information [from] possible burglars to even at the places we use credit cards and checks.”

Another source of identifying information is on people’s checks, Adams said. “A lot of people put their driver’s license number on their checks. You’re not required to have your driver’s license printed on them.”

He also suggested utilizing the free credit reports offered through Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, which offer one free credit report annually through each company.

The Federal Trade Commission Web site offers several more tips and suggestions for protecting personal information. The site is www.ftc.gov/index.shtml.