ID Thief Targets Look-Alike Women, Cops Say

SEATTLE, April 21, 2005 -- -- Identity theft has taken on a new face, and it looks a lot like the face of the victims, police said.

A woman has been targeting other women around the Seattle area, and she seems to be picking her victims based on their appearance, choosing women who look like her to make it easier for her to withdraw money from their bank accounts, King County detectives said.

"She's brilliant," said Nicole Bianchi, one of the alleged victims, but she didn't mean that as a compliment. She said she wants the woman she's talking about in jail.

"She has a total of $8,600 she got off me," Bianchi said.

Heather Smelser, another fraud victim, said she lost $6,000 to the woman.

Detectives said they believe both were victims of the same fraud, by the same woman.

"She seemed very nice and shy," Smelser said. She said the woman approached her at a Wallingford bar and asked for directions. At the same time, she pick-pocketed Smelser's wallet.

Detectives said that for all the women who appear to be victims of the clever thief, within 24 hours their bank accounts had been emptied.

"What she did was very calculated," Bianchi said.

King County sheriff's detectives said it appears the woman has been doing it all around the Seattle area. She met one victim at a Capitol Hill coffee shop, another at a Tukwila restaurant and another at a Lynnwood cafe, detectives said. She seems to target women who look like her, so she can use their ID to use their bank and credit cards, police said.

She may have already stolen at least $20,000, police said.

Smelser was not happy that her bank just handed over all that cash without requiring any account numbers. The suspect apparently walked in with the stolen ID and simply asked for the money.

"They handed over a lot of money at one time, which I'm surprised about," Smelser said.

Detectives said the woman has used many local banks, but she seems to favor Washington Mutual.

A spokeswoman for the bank said Washington Mutual had no comment on the case, but she added the bank is working with investigators to help catch the alleged thief.