Lampasas, Burnet law officials pool resources to aid citizens
Neighboring community's police chief, former Lampasan Paul Nelson, enjoys working with local Police Department
By LISA CARNLEY Staff Writer

Just as two heads are better than one, small communities are finding that by pooling their resources a lot more can be accomplished by local police departments, and a lot less can be accomplished by criminals.

Such is the case with the Lampasas and Burnet police departments, where Lampasas Assistant Chief Sammy Bailey and Burnet Police Chief Paul Nelson are working jointly to help consumers protect themselves, their bank accounts and, ultimately, their wallets.

Scams to defraud citizens of their money and identity are becoming more commonplace, especially in smaller cities, said Nelson, because criminals mistakenly believe they have fewer resources to stop the crime flow. "In reality," he said, "smaller departments work more closely together.

"Criminals are getting lazier, and they are finding it easier to sit in their air-conditioned houses in front of their computers and make money, rather than go out in the hot sun and work for it," said the Burnet chief. They also are getting smarter and coming up with new ways to defraud consumers, he added.

Lampasas and Burnet have seen an increase in these crimes, and they are working with First State Bank of Burnet -- which has a branch in both communities -- to elevate awareness of what citizens can do to protect themselves.

The approaching Christmas season has thieves working overtime, Nelson said.

"There are people out there that are shopping for your identity," he said. "They are watching shoppers walk around stores and who are easily distracted by all the hustle and bustle of the season.

"These people are waiting for the chance to steal another person's identity by taking things from women's purses or men's wallets that are sticking out of their back pocket."

Nelson and Ms. Bailey offered the following advice to shoppers to protect their identity.

• Remember to keep purses and wallets close at hand.

• When swiping a debit or credit card, look around to be sure no one is watching when a personal identification number is entered.

• Women who do not want to shop with a purse should stash it in the trunk of their vehicle or under the seat where thieves won't see it if they are looking in vehicles for something to steal.

• Shred all receipts or keep them in a secure place at home.

• Shred old checks to keep anyone from getting account information from the bottom of the document.

There are those who dig in trash dumpsters to gather information to make fake checks or counterfeit identification, said Nelson.

They take a name and couple it with a different address, someone else's checking account number, and a different driver's license or Social Security number.

"They can then contact a credit card company and open up an account with that information, and when that happens, it will affect all the people that were used in creating the 'new' identity," said the Burnet chief.

The law officials offered the following hints for those who have suffered identity theft.

• Quickly close all accounts involved, such as bank or credit card accounts.

• When opening a new account, use a password known only to you.

• Phone the fraud hotline numbers of all three nationwide consumer reporting companies to place a fraud alert on credit reports. "That will help stop other people from opening a new account in your name," Nelson said.

• Contact the agency that issued the driver's license or other government-issued identification and follow procedures to cancel those types of identification.

Ms. Bailey also warned consumers about con artists who attempt to make a purchase from a consumer using a check made out for an amount considerably higher than the agreed amount of the sale.

"As a rule, the checks turn out to be no good," she said. "A good rule is to not cash a check for an amount in excess of the purchase price."

Also, foreign lottery scams are big business nowadays, said the Lampasas official. By sending a phony check to a "lottery winner", the scammer leads the victim to believe they have won a prize. When the victim deposits the phony prize into their bank account, the last thing they intend to do is pass a counterfeit cashier's check, Ms. Bailey said. But that's exactly how it could appear. "If the victim then proceeds to write checks drawing on the money in the account, it could be interpreted as issuing bad checks."

The scammer wins when the victim sends him funds he requested to cover "taxes and fees." The victim could be liable to the bank for the balance of money sent to the scammer.

Nelson reminded consumers that the number-one rule in this type of scam is: "If you did not enter into a contest, then you should not be receiving any checks. At no time will a company send a check to a person and ask that person to send money back to them."

The Burnet chief also reminded consumers that local banks will not call to discuss account information over the telephone, nor will they ask for verification of identifying information over the phone. "If you do receive these types of calls, please just hang up. Do not give any type of information over the phone," he said.

Anyone who needs more information may contact either the Burnet or Lampasas police departments.

Many incidences of fraud go unreported, Ms. Bailey said, because people are too embarrassed to report them.

These crimes are not like breaking into a bank, said Nelson. "There are no fingerprints left behind, and a lot of times weeks may have gone by since the crime took place, making it harder for us to do anything about it.

"We are not going to be able to stop this, but we can slow it down if we are made aware of what's going on. Good communication is the key."