COEUR d'ALENE - Three Kootenai County residents filed reports with the sheriff's office on Monday after fraudulent charges were made on their credit and debit cards.

All of the residents had their cards in their possession at the time of the transactions, which were made in Oklahoma and California. While the cases do not appear to be related, Kootenai County Sheriff's Lt. Stu Miller said mail theft could be a common thread.

"They (mail thefts) happen quite frequently," Miller said. "People should be on top of that and make sure if they stop their mail or have someone trusted pick it up if they leave when they expect things like bank statements to arrive."

Police reports are usually required by financial institutions for the victims of fraud to be refunded. Miller said once that occurs, KCSO marks the cases as "inactive."

"They (the banks) then become the victims and since they have their own investigators and are often not located in Idaho, it is no longer in our jurisdiction," Miller said.

Theft of banking information creates multiple victims - residents, banks and the businesses where the information was illegally used. However, in many cases, suspects are identified and then arrested due to surveillance videos taken at places like retail outlets and gas stations where fraudulent charges take place.

Miller encouraged county residents to "protect" their information by carefully monitoring their financial activity.

"Some of it is just being wise to the fact that this is out there," Miller said. "These people will go to any extent to get your information."

Monday's reports of fraudulent charges come in the wake of a string of credit card fraud cases reported by more than 12 financial institutions in the Spokane area. These reports are being investigated by the Secret Service. Kevin Miller, head of the Spokane office, called the incident "substantial."

A common thread in the case may be purchases made at URM, which operates retail and wholesale grocery stores in the area. The company's CEO, Ray Sprinkle, issued a statement on the company's website Monday stating that they are working closely with law enforcement to determine whether their stores are the source of the information leak.

"At this time, we cannot confirm any unauthorized disclosures," Sprinkle wrote. "Out of an abundance of caution, in the absence of conclusive evidence that any card numbers have been compromised, we are informing you of our investigation."

Miller told The Press that as of Tuesday, no reports had been received from North Idaho banks.

"But the bank investigators are aware we are in the process of working this," Miller said. "They will let us know."