HOUSTON -- Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States and Houston is the No. 1 spot for this crime in Texas. Yet, the KPRC Local 2 Troubleshooters found there is little chance the people committing these crimes will ever see the inside of a jail cell.

Every month an average of 340 Houstonians report crimes involving credit and debit cards.

This man is just one of those cases.

"It's worse than having your car stolen because it's an intangible. It's your identity and I had no clue how I was going to get that back," a victim said.

He asked the Troubleshooters to shield his identity because someone ran up $17,000 worth of credit card charges under his name.

"I didn't find out until I was getting calls from creditors," the victim said.

Equally frustrating is what happened when he said he reported the crime to police.

"The tone of the conversation was pretty clear. He had taken the report and I could get a copy of the report, which would help me clear my record," the victim said.

Angry by what he felt was a lack of response, he did his own digging and was able to find out which ATM the crooks were using to take out cash.

"I offered that to police and they were like, 'Yeah, if you want to bring that down, that's fine. We'll have a look at it.' But it was pretty clear nothing was going to be done," the victim said.

"I've been a victim of identity theft over three times in the past year and I understand their frustration. It's a frustrating crime, said Sgt. Mike Osina with the Houston Police Department.

Osina is with HPD's Financial Crimes Unit.

"We are inundated with cases," he said.

That may be an understatement. In the last two years, HPD's 15-member financial crimes unit has received more than 32,000 cases for investigation. Just getting a detective on the phone to talk about a case can be a chore.

The Troubleshooters called the financial crimes unit.

"You have reached the Houston Police Department's Financial Crimes Unit. All representatives are currently assisting other callers. Please remain on the line," the recording said.

The Troubleshooters waited for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and 45 minutes.

After being on hold for an hour, they heard the following message.

"All representatives are still assisting other callers. Please remain on the line and your call will be answered in the order in which it was received."

No one ever answered the Troubleshooters call.

"I don't know what to tell you what happened on that and I apologize that it did happen. We will do a better job of that," Osina said.

So, with such heavy caseloads, what about actually catching the crooks?

"Every case gets read. Every single case that comes to our office gets read -- that I can promise them," Osina said.

Reading a case is one thing. Solving it is another.

HPD records show in the last year, only 2 percent of forgery and counterfeiting cases and only 12 percent of fraud cases were actually solved.

"Every time we get a handle on a certain way these crooks are doing things, they evolve into something else," Osina said.

Just ask the victim interviewed by the Troubleshooters. It took years to repair his credit. But what about the person who stole his identity?

"Actually, I don't know. It's still a mystery to me," the victim said.

One of the biggest problems with solving these cases is many of the crooks live in other cities, states or even foreign countries.

That means local detectives have to rely on other jurisdictions for help, and that spirit of cooperation isn't always there.

As for the problems of getting ahold of a detective, the captain of the division was so disturbed by what the Troubleshooters found he said he is making immediate changes to ensure it doesn't happen again.

He even asked the Troubleshooters to pass along a name and number: Sgt. Leo Boutte, (713) 308-0986. He said if anyone has a problem with the way his or her case is being handled to call Boutte directly.

To avoid becoming an identity theft victim, officials offered the following tips.

Shred all personal documents.
Check your credit at least once a year -- every six months, if possible.
Never use your personal identification number, or PIN, in public.
Put fraud alerts on all of your accounts. Then check those alerts to make sure they haven't expired.