A new scam is attacking KELOLAND and it targets checking accounts. Victims feel violated and Sioux Falls police say there isn’t much they can do to track down the suspects.
It's a scam Candy Schultz wouldn't have noticed, if her husband hadn't urged her to look closely at her bank statement earlier this week.
"I thought, oh my god, something is wrong," Schultz said.
She found she's the latest victim of identity theft through e-checks.
"I went and called the bank right away and they said, well it's a legitimate check, it came through," Schultz said.
But it's a check Schultz never authorized, or had ever seen before.
Using her information and bank routing number, someone made a check and cashed $30 to FastLoanFast. In the memo line, it says loan4utoday.com.
"It's just not right," Schultz said.
Sioux Falls Police Officer Sam Clemens says scammers are getting more creative to get a hold of your money and personal information.
"It's kind of a scary thing," Clemens said.
And while it's nearly impossible to track down how the information was taken, Clemens believes someone stole a check or a legitimate business filed Schultz's information after doing business with her, and was hacked.
"You never really know, you're writing checks that are going through different hands. It doesn't take much for somebody to grab hold of that check and have those routing numbers," Clemens said.
And while Schultz's bank has already reimbursed the money taken from her account and she's changed all of her personal information, she wants her experience to be a warning for others.
"I felt that other people need to know this is going on if they find something going on in their account, they need to do something right away," Schultz said.
Since finding out about the theft, Schultz has been receiving numerous phone calls from scammers, indicating more of her information is being passed around.
Police say if you feel you are the victim of identity theft, you should contact your financial institution immediately and have them to file a report.
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