Identity thefts are on the rise and there are no indications that they will fall anytime too soon. According to the FBI, identity thefts accounted for $52.6 billion in losses in 2006 and it affected 991 million Americans alone. That number would greatly increase if we were able to calculate what this theft is doing to all nations around the world. However, it is not in the purview of this article.

Identity thefts come in many disguises. We all hear occasionally of the business or financial company that had been hacked into and the thieves got away with hundreds and thousands of data files with customer's personal information, such as their name, where they live, their telephone numbers and even dates of birth. It is not so public when financial companies are attacked and in addition to the information above, the get account numbers, loan amounts, credit ratings, available credit, and passwords to get direct access. Armed with this information, a thief could actually ruin you financially. And even in those rare occasions when the financial institution takes responsibility and alleviates some of the loss and distress. You will still suffer months or years trying to clear up the problem and get some resemblance of your identity back in tack. Those costs alone could bankrupt a family with a substantial income.

But identity thieves don't have to be computer geeks gone bad. They can be your average person on the street. You could be walking next to one and having a kind conversation with him or her and never be aware that your identity is being "marked". Many people are just very social and they can carry on conversations with relatively unknown people just for the sake of passing time. When we were young and learning how to move along in society, our mothers and fathers drilled into us that we should NEVER talk to strangers. That was good advice 50 years ago and is even better advice here in 2007. Simple questions answered in a non-threatening way can gather a lot of information that can be used to follow up and swipe the identity away from the unsuspecting person. What is your name? Do you live around here? What type of work do you do? Where do you work? I'm new in town and haven't decided who to bank with. Could you recommend a bank? What kind of accounts can they set you up with. What kind of accounts do you have there? Are you satisfied with their service? With just a little information, this person has your name, probably an address or a general location of where you live. If you are in the phone book, he could validate the information and get a phone number. He knows where you bank and what kind of accounts you have. This is a lot of information! And you really needed to be a little cautious when carrying on conversations with people you have just met or don't know very well.

Another way information can be gained from you is through what you throw away. There is an old saying that one man's trash is another man's treasure and this is never more true when we are speaking of stealing a person's identity. Many people have gone out and purchased an inexpensive shredder to shred personal papers at the house and they should be commended. However, the majority of people don't think twice about throwing valuable information in the trash without even so much as tearing them up. Such things as bank statements, credit card statements, loan statements. All these documents are worth their weight in gold to the right person. I heard recently of a case where someone had driven out in the rural area of town and stole all the mail from the mail boxes. They had gone through their stash opening up envelopes that may contain checks, credit cards, and statements but left letters and junk mail intact. These swift minded thieves or perhaps feeble minded thieves ended up throwing a plastic sack full of the left over mail out in front of a convenient store. It was just their good luck that no one would admit seeing anyone throwing out the bag. The thieves got away with an unknown amount of identity papers and the victims may never know that they were targeted until the crime is already committed and they are trying to answer questions about large purchases on their statements, or being stopped by a police officer and checked just to find out that there are warrants out for their arrests which they are innocent of, but the person who had stolen a driver's license is the only person who knows for sure that the victim is innocent.

The purpose of this article was to highlight the fact that identity thefts are very prevalent in our society. There is no reason to believe that this crime is going to drop substantially in the future. We all need to be concerned for our safety and security and we need to take steps to at least reduce the probability of being victimized.

To learn more on what defenses we can put in affect to help us be less of a target to a identity thief, you can visit my web site, www.worldendeavors.biz/idtheft. There is an E-Book I compiled with more information constituting identity theft and what you can do to reduce the possibility of you being victimized, and if you are victimized, some steps to help you recover.

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