APD says detectives overwhelmed with identity theft cases

ATLANTA — A northeast Atlanta man is on a crusade to find who snatched his credit card numbers and went on a shopping spree.

Rob Glancy believes his card was skimmed somewhere in Virginia Highland where he lives.

He said the thief made a copy of his card and used it at several stores, including a nail shop and a deli in Stone Mountain.%

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He filed a police report on May 30 and posted about the crime online using the NextDoor App.

Glancy said immediately his neighbors started chiming in with their own experiences. Glancy said he has 60 responses so far.

“If you add up responses, you're talking $50,000, $70,000-worth of transactions,” Glancy told Channel 2’s Sophia Choi.

Atlanta police say credit card information theft is an epidemic, with thousands of local cases each year.  And with so many complaints, police say it’s hard to investigate all of them in a timely manner. %

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“We only have so many detectives, but we have so many cases.  And they work them as they get to them,” said Sgt. Paul Cooper with the APD’s Major Fraud Unit.

When police didn’t call Glancy back quick enough, he started investigating the crime himself.  He even got surveillance pictures of a possible suspect from one store.

Atlanta police say they will follow up with Glancy, who likely got taken because of the magnetic strip on the back of his card.  Police say the strips are easily compromised, so the crimes will likely continue until all stores use chip readers.

“The U.S. does less than 25 percent of all credit card transactions worldwide, but we carry more than 50 percent of the fraud,” Cooper said new statistics show.

But police don’t expect credit card companies to do away with magnetic strips in the U.S. for at least five more years.

In the meantime, police say use a credit card, not a debit card for your purchases.

“At least with a credit card, it's someone else's money. The credit card company will take the hit,” Cooper told Choi.

Glancy’s bank reimbursed the $600 dollars the thief stole, but he wants something else.

“I'd like the guy to be arrested and go to jail,” Glancy said.

Cox Media Group