According to the San Jose Mercury News, a Silicon Valley gas station and grocery store have been targeted in two major cases of identity theft using stolen personal information from debit cards. The number of victims topped 200 last week, and police warned to expect more.

The identity theft scam hit the Lunardi’s grocery store in Los Gatos and an Arco gas station on San Antonio Road in Los Altos. At the store, police said the thieves may have swapped a debit-card-reading machine at one or more of the store’s checkout stands, or installed small, easily hidden skimming devices that collect a shopper’s card number and personal identification codes. The thieves then typically use the information to make new debit cards, often out of gift cards, old credit cards or any card with a magnetic strip.

The San Jose Mercury News published an editorial yeterday, subtitled “Voters shoud insist upon vigorous identity-theft law, ” which continues to say:

While extending the concept of the security freeze nationwide, HR 3997 would allow only individuals who have been victims of identity theft to freeze their records. That’s like allowing only homeowners whose houses have burned down to install fire alarms.

In short, HR 3997 rolls back existing state laws and provides no new protections against identity theft.