DECATUR - Identity theft is the fastest growing crime nationwide, something Kara Demirjian of Decatur is confronting firsthand.

"I never suspected a thing," said the vice president of real estate and marketing for DemirCo, her family's company. A call last month from a representative of Discover Card asking when she intended to pay her $6,200 credit balance alerted her that something was drastically wrong.

By the time Demirjian was done investigating her credit record, she found six credit cards had been taken out in her name and purchases totaling about $30,000 had been made with them.

Her situation is far from unusual. The Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego, Calif., noted that identity theft remains the No. 1 concern among consumers contacting the Federal Trade Commission. Two studies done in July 2003 by Gartner Research and Harris Interaction found about 7 million people became identity theft victims in the prior year. That breaks down to 19,178 a day, 799 an hour and 13.3 a minute.

The apparent culprit in Demirjian's case was Anna Price, also known as Anna Jameson, who Demirjian hired in September as the nanny for her two children. Price is facing felony theft charges in Macon County Circuit Court.

Demirjian said she called Price on July 11 to confront her but got a voice mail. She left a message saying Price was fired and exactly why.

Price spent until February gaining her confidence and endearing herself to the family, Demirjian said. That month, Price applied for a credit card using Demirjian's name, Social Security number and other personal information she apparently found by going through documents in the Demirjian household. She used a preapproved credit card application that arrived in Demirjian's mail.

That scenario continued until Price had acquired six cards in Demirjian's name.

"It was risky," Demirjian said. "She used my address and intercepted the credit card statements when they arrived in the mail. If one had come on a Saturday, I would have found out something was going on. She made minimum payments each month on the cards. But she missed making the Discover Card payment.

"She was not just taking something from a garbage can. She was going into somebody's house to be the children's caregiver and then doing this. It appears premeditated. It's beyond me how she could come to work every day."

Price allegedly confessed the scheme to police when they questioned her following her arrest. The monthly statements for the six credit cards, of which Demirjian has obtained copies from the credit card companies, show the cards were used to purchase meals at places such as Texas Roadhouse, Red Lobster and Applebee's in Forsyth, as well as thousands of dollars in merchandise at area stores.

Demirjian said she decided to go public with her case to alert other people to what can happen. She said she is not liable for the purchases made on the bogus credit cards but continues to face the aggravation caused by the alert she had to place on her credit record.

"I've spent hours and hours on the phone with credit card companies. They have been exceptional," Demirjian said. "I had to pay for reports from all three major credit bureaus. That is something you have to do. Their reports were not all the same. Some of the cards were on one report but not on another."

Information about the case also was given to the FTC for posting on a new national database it is establishing for use in tracking people involved in identity theft, Demirjian said.

Decatur police Lt. James Chervinko said Demirjian did a lot of work on her own to gather credit card records and provide investigating officers with that documentation.

"We get four to five identity theft cases a week," Chervinko said. "Many of those deal with some type of fraud where a credit card or utility service has been applied for in another person's name. Most of the victims find out about it when they do some type of credit check, such as when they go to buy a car or a house. Or they find out when they get called by a collection agency."

Identity theft is a growing problem because of the explosion in the use of computers and credit and debit cards in making business transactions online, Chervinko said.

"Many times the people who steal the identity are known to the victims," Chervinko said. "They are family members, so-called friends, neighbors or employees."

Recent identity thefts reported to the Decatur police include one where the victim had used a credit card to purchase something online and another where the victim received a $1,300 utility bill for electric service he never initiated, Chervinko said.

Theft of wallets and purses also can provide the personal identification needed to commit identity theft, Chervinko said. Even if the victims cancel credit cards and checking accounts and change passwords and numbers on accounts, the thief still has the basic information that could be used any time in the future, he said.

Chervinko recommends anyone who has been a victim of identity theft should call the FTC hot line at 1-877-438-4338. A counselor will take the complaint and advise the victim on how to deal with the credit-related problems that could result.

The FTC, along with banks and credit grantors, has developed the ID Theft Affidavit to help victims restore their good names. The affidavit can be used to report information to many organizations and simplifies the process of disputing charges with companies where a new account was opened in the victim's name.

The affidavit and other information are available from the FTC online at www.consumer.gov/idtheft.

Ron Ingram can be reached at ringram@;herald-review.com or 421-7973.