Don't become a target for identity theft.

Karen Sanders was at the Central Florida Fairgrounds watching her teenage sons play lacrosse, and she didn't feel like lugging her purse along.

So Sanders discreetly tucked the bag under the seat of her Infiniti. When she came back two hours later, the window was broken and her purse was gone.

That was the beginning of a nightmare that is becoming more common nationwide, law-enforcement officers say: car burglaries that result in identity theft.

Groups of thieves have found easy money in soft targets, authorities say. For example, people often feel comfortable when doing errands such as dropping a child off at day care or running into a convenience store. Sometimes, they even leave their cars running.

"They're looking for the fastest, easiest opportunity," Orange County sheriff's Lt. Jeff Stonebreaker said. "If you harden yourself as a victim, they're just going to search for someone who's easier to get."In car burglaries, thieves look for money, GPS devices, cell phones, laptop computers purses — even guns — then break windows, grab the goods in seconds and escape. In at least half the cases, drivers leave their doors unlocked and crooks go up and down streets or parking lots trying doors — "car hopping," Stonebreaker said.

"It used to be people would go in and grab your stereo … or your GPS," Barrett said. "Now it's become a profitable crime to go in and steal identity."

Sometimes thieves pay accomplices to pilfer IDs. Other times, they disguise themselves to look more like the people whose identification they steal so they can cash checks or withdraw money from a bank.

Link:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-stolen-purses-identity-theft-20100822,0,7239023.story