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Crime & Safety

Police: Identity Thief Steals Local Man's Debit Card

Purchases are made from Delaware to Georgia in nearly two-week span, troopers say.

A local man learned that his credit card unfortunately made the rounds from state to state -- from Georgia to Delaware -- without him for about a two-week period, according to police.

Ralph M. LaSalle, 66, of 2204 Stonewall Drive, Lower Macungie Township, was the victim of debit card cloning, according to state police at Fogelsville. Cloning is essentially the copying of debit or credit card information. It can occur in different forms, but one of the most common is for a thief to use a device on an automated teller machine that copies your personal information.

The thief can now withdraw money or charge merchandise using your information. Another form of cloning includes spam emails that are sent with the intention of gaining victims' credit or debit card information.

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In this case, someone made purchases using LaSalle's card between Oct. 1 and 12, police said. Those purchases stretched from Georgia to Delaware and are being treated as identity theft.

Police did not say how many purchases were made, the total amount or whether LaSalle was liable for the cost.

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Anyone with information is asked to call police at 610-395-1438.

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