Every week someone somewhere in Saratoga will become a victim of identity theft. It could be a credit card stolen from a purse. It could be some information that a person is tricked into giving out on the Internet. Or it could be information that is stolen out of a mailbox.

"It is a faceless and easy crime," said Capt. John Hirokawa of the Santa Clara Sheriff's Department. "All they need is some personal information."

"There is a generation that grew up without computers and it is much easier to mislead those people," said Hirokawa. "And there are a lot of younger people for whom using computers is second nature. They can easily break into a computer and retrieve personal information."

He said there had been an increase in identity theft in recent years, with the first wave starting about five years ago.

Hirokawa said that he himself had received an email from a source pretending to be from his credit card company some time ago. When he called up his credit card company, they told him that no such email had been sent out.

"These criminals are spread all over the world. Someone from Saratoga vacations in France or Italy and loses a wallet there. And then unexplained charges show up in their accounts some months later," said Hirokawa.

He felt that the Internet was the easiest way of draining people's funds, though there could be other ways, too, like mail theft.

"These criminals are getting increasingly sophisticated. Last year we caught a group stealing mail from the rural areas of Saratoga and Los Gatos. They would operate from a motel room in Sunnyvale. In that room we found a laminating machine to manufacture fake identities," said Hirokawa. Deputies also found that the group had tried to piece together shredded documents so that they could have access to personal information.

Deputies say that affluent areas like Saratoga and Los Gatos are a natural target for these criminals. "This is much easier than robbing a bank," said Hirokawa.

He said that these gangs need just a bit of crucial information to steal identities. "Once that happens, it will take an average of several hundred hours over the next 18 months to clear up your credit history," said Hirokawa.

Deputies say that there are a few simple ways to protect and prevent identities from being stolen. "Don't carry all your credit cards in one wallet. You can always leave behind some at home," said Hirokawa.

Care should be taken to remove mail from the mailbox quickly. Outgoing mail should be deposited in collection mailboxes or at a local post office.

All credit documents should be shredded before they are thrown into the trash. Personal information like date of birth or Social Security number should not be given out on the phone unless the person concerned initiated the phone call. A credit report should be ordered once a year to check for any identity-theft activity.

A leaflet detailing more tips in case of an identity theft is now available at the West Valley Substation of the Santa Clara Sheriff's Department.