ERLANGER, Ky. -- Using your credit card makes holiday shopping easy -- especially for those who have stolen your identity.

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It's a scary thought, but if you lose your purse or wallet, it's not that difficult for someone else to use your credit card.

It's easy to swipe someone else's card at a self-service check-out. But once you're asked to sign the receipt, the gig's up, right? Actually, clerks often don't look closely at the signatures -- and they didn't notice when a reporter from WLWT-TV in Cincinnati signed a different name than the one on the card.

Also, paying at the pump is just as easy. Insert the card, get the gas and go. But the reporter went inside the station to pay for gas, again signed a name different from the one on the card she used, and got away without being questioned.

Erlanger police Detective Steve Castor said he wasn't surprised the reporter got away with using someone else's credit card four times Wednesday.

"It wouldn't surprise me at all," said Castor, who added that credit card theft is steadily increasing and will continue to rise through the holiday season.

It once was a crime that was dealt with once or twice a month, he said. "It's two to three to five a week now, so it's really increasing."

Castor said crooks used to look for cash, but now they accept credit just as easily.

"Identity theft is one of those crimes it may take years to find out," he said.