In the first two weeks of July, six residents on two adjacent streets in Mt. Lebanon made identity theft reports to police, said Lt. Aaron Lauth, a spokesman for the police department. Earlier this week, a seventh resident from the same area reported an identity theft.

"This is definitely a spike," Lt. Lauth said. "[Identify thefts] are a normal occurrence. I would say we probably have at least a few a month that are reported to us, but this is definitely a spike in the normal trend."

The seven residents who made reports all lived on either Old Hickory or Elm Spring roads.

The municipality notified residents of the trend last week through its alert system and through its Facebook pages.

An investigation into the identity thefts is ongoing, and the Mt. Lebanon Police Department has sought the help of federal investigators because the stolen personal information was used to open store credit cards in southern states, including Georgia and North Carolina.

Most of the store credit limits had been maxed out, or the charges had included significant purchases.

Lt. Lauth said he could only speculate as to how the residents' identities were stolen, but since the victims live in a two-block radius, he said police suspect someone may have been going through people's trash or mailboxes, then selling the information to someone else to open the store credit accounts.

To prevent identity theft, residents should shred identifying documents before throwing them in the trash, Lt. Lauth said, and they should use a mail slot, rather than a mailbox, if possible. If mail is delivered to an outside box, residents should try to bring the mail into their house as soon as possible, he said.

If a person suspects he was or could be a victim of identity theft, Lt. Lauth recommended calling a credit reporting agency, monitoring credit and calling police to report suspicious bills or other mail.