Whenever an identity theft case is reported in the city, it usually lands on Oviedo Det. Wade Weaver's desk.

"A lot of people are moving to this type of crime, even violent criminals, because the risk of getting caught is actually really low," said Weaver. "Unlike a bank robbery, where there's a high risk and a high reward, in these cases, there's low risk and a very high reward."

But Weaver is trying to change those odds. Unlike many larger police departments, Oviedo PD investigates every identity theft case that comes in no matter how small.

"We'll take anything from a $5 fraudulent charge to a $50,000 fraudulent charge," said Weaver. "Larger agencies have restraints on which cases they will investigate."

Every time the department receives a complaint about identity theft, the response is the same.

"If an account has been opened, we'll contact the company to find out the account information, or if there's fraudulent charges, we'll go immediately to that store," said Weaver. "Once we do that, we'll look through the information and find out if there's anything that's traceable. Sometimes there's not."

That's because crooks often use phony addresses and phone numbers. And sometimes they make it even more difficult on investigators by actually paying a couple of bills on their bogus accounts.

"What happens when the suspect does that is it doesn't alert the victim to their credit being hurt by this particular account because they're actually paying the minimum balance," said Weaver.

He says it usually takes months for the victim to realize what's going on, and by then any surveillance video of the scammers has usually been erased.

Weaver pays close attention the trends in identity theft and says now he's seeing a lot of cases of credit card skimming. That's when your account information is stolen while your card is being swiped. He recommends paying with cash anytime you're buying from an unfamiliar merchant as a way to hopefully avoid becoming a victim.

WDBO's Consumer Warrior Clark Howard advises those concerned about identity theft to freeze their credit. That way if their identity is stolen, the thieves won't be able to open any new accounts.