JEFFERSON COUNTY - Marty Woods felt sick when she looked at her bank statement Wednesday.
"I just panicked," she said. "Our account went from $1,500 to $23 in just one day."
Woods was the latest in a growing list of credit and debit fraud victims in the Denver area.
Investigators in Adams and Arapahoe Counties are now looking into a combined 33 reported cases of credit and debit fraud, all reported in the past two weeks.
On Thursday, that number was about 20.
The Adams County Sheriff's Office had the bulk of those cases with 23. The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department had received 10 fraud complaints as of Saturday evening.
Victims have reported false charges on their accounts from countries like Mexico, Italy, and possibly Japan. Others said charges were made in other states including California, Arizona, Georgia, and New York.
Woods, who lives in Jefferson County, had not filed a complaint Saturday, but said she plans to do so. Her bank reimbursed her for the $1,000 that was fraudulently debited.
Every dollar counts for Woods, who was laid off in July of 2010.
"I felt violated and someone stole from me," she said. "This can actually happen to you."
Investigators would not say if any of the cases were connected or how the scammers were accessing all those card numbers.
Krista Flannigan, Director of Public Information for the Adams and Broomfield County District Attorney, said consumers need to watch out for skimming devices.
"They're little devices that you can run a credit card through that will read all the information from a magnetic strip," she said. "If a device appears to be removable and is not flush to the surface, don't put your card in it."
Flannigan said consumers should also watch out for bogus phone calls or text messages asking for your credit card information. On Saturday, several people contacted 9NEWS about a text message claiming to be from the Sooper Credit Union claiming their card had been deactivated.
Callers heard a recorded message asking the caller to input their credit card number.
A message on the Sooper Credit Union website told members not to respond to this request for information.
"Sooper Credit Union will never send an e-mail, text message or make calls requesting account number, PIN or debit/credit card information," the website said.
False charge amounts varied greatly. Some victims reported charges as small as five dollars, while others said the amount exceed $1,000.
Viki Dittman, an employee at a grocery store in Bennett, claimed she and at least three other employees of the same store were hit.
Woods had a message for the person who stole her debit card information.
"If you were in my shoes, how would you feel if this happened to you," she said.
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