BOSTON -- Police are searching for the people they believe are responsible for an identity theft crime ring.

NewsCenter Five's David Boeri reported that Carol Silva allegedly has stolen money and identities from a number of people. In some cases, she and her alleged accomplices steal pocketbooks. In other instances, she allegedly pretends to faint.

"She'll fall to the floor, and when people bend over to help them, they reach in and grab their wallet out of their pocketbook. They never know what happened to them," Boston Police Department Lt. Steven Blair said.

Police said that Silva would use the stolen identifications to withdraw money from a victim's bank account.

"They would also take checks from the victim's pocketbooks, deposit them into another victim's back account, inflate the bank account and then withdraw the funds. Each time they hit the victim's account from $20,000 to $30,000," Blair said.

Charles Bellen, also known as "The Professor," is one of Silva's accomplices, police said.

"They are actually going out and recruiting people. They will hold onto the victim's driver's license and go around to neighborhoods looking for people who fit the description of the victim to use them to go into the banks," Blair said.

"Many people don’t think about what they carry on their person, such as in their purses or in their wallets that may be extra identifying information that they don’t really need to have on them," U.S. Postal Inspection Services official Cheryl Swyers said.

So far, police made three arrests.