At least 30 from Las Cruces report illegal use.

Police in Las Cruces have gotten at least 30 complaints from local residents that their debit cards have been illegally used in the past couple of weeks, and authorities suspect they may be many more such incidents, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported today on its Web site.

After collecting reports and interviewing victims, police plan to meet next week with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on what is likely to be a massive joint investigation, the Sun-News reported.

The Sun-News reported earlier this week that thousands of Dona Ana County residents had been issued new debit cards after the theft of debit card and PIN numbers from the Las Cruces branch of a nationwide retailer and that the majority of the debit cards have been issued by VISA.

VISA has told local banks that the theft had targeted branches of the unnamed national retailer in about 20 U.S. cities, including Las Cruces, the Sun-News reported today.

Most of the several thousand debit cards that banks have replaced in Dona Ana County have not been used fraudulently, but were replaced because VISA identified them as being at risk, the paper reported.

Meanwhile, the Sun-News reported today that several national publications citing unnamed sources have identified the affected retailers as Wal-Mart, its Sam's Club division and OfficeMax.

Back in December, Wal-Mart issued a news release acknowledging that some credit- and debit card numbers used by customers to buy gasoline at Sam's Club had been stolen between Sept. 21 and Oct. 2, 2005 - and that some 600 people nationwide had been affected, the Sun-News reported.

An OfficeMax spokesman told the Sun-News the company had no knowledge of a security breach.

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