That someone or entity stole $8,000 from the Sugar Valley Volunteer Fire Co. is alarming, but shouldn’t really be surprising.

We read about this type of criminal activity a lot these days.

Police agencies are seeing an uptick in thefts from bank accounts.

Criminals, in various ways, gain a bank account number or a routing number and it’s just trouble from there.

We’d bet in the fire company’s case, whoever took the money intially has or will try again–even if the account is blocked.

We saw that with a reader who recently told us a check she sent for a payment probably was the source of bank account being raided for a few thousand dollars.

She believes a person used the account number to re-create a check, forged it and illegally withdrew money from the account.

A week later, they tried to withdraw even more money through online banking.

And a week after that, they tried again.

Blatant.

Awful.

Evil.

Criminals want your account numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers and other confidential information they can use to loot your checking account or run up bills on your credit cards. Identity thieves can take out loans or obtain credit cards and even driver’s licenses in your name.

State police said this about the Sugar Valley case: “It is an ongoing investigation, but we will say that according to the bank it appears out of state individuals were the perpetrators. It also appears several local businesses were similarly targeted and it was not one particular financial institution.”

Banks do take every precaution.

They also will, in most cases, reimburse victims the money stolen.

How to prevent this type of theft?

Based on the volume of this illegal activity and the on-line nature of how bank account information and transactions are done, you probably cannot.

In Sugar Valley’s case, even their protocols to protect them didn’t work in this case.

If you suspect illegal activity, or if you lose a check, contact your bank immediately.

Report the loss, theft and fraudulent transaction so the bank can immediately freeze the account and start an investigation.

$8,000 is not chump change… to anyone.

Do what you can to protect yourself.

Don’t ignore obvious signs. Don’t give out any personal financial information. Contact authorities immediately.