LifeLock accomplishes this by establishing 90-day fraud alerts with all the credit-reporting agencies on behalf of their new customers. LifeLock will continuously monitor and renew these alerts before they have a chance to expire. At the same time, LifeLock also requests credit reports be delivered to their members.

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It boils down to:

• Check your credit reports
• Avoid giving out your social security number
• Don’t provide personal information to solicitors
• Avoid online identity theft by not giving out information online
• Make sure someone isn’t looking over your shoulder

Following these steps can help you avoid becoming an identity theft victim.

How identity thieves get your personal information:

• They steal wallets and purses containing your identification and credit and bank cards.
• They steal your mail, including your bank and credit card statements, pre-approved credit offers, telephone calling cards and tax information.
• They complete a “change of address form” to divert your mail to another location.
• They rummage through your trash, or the trash of businesses, for personal data in a practice known as “dumpster diving.”
• They fraudulently obtain your credit report by posing as a landlord, employer or someone else who may have a legitimate need for — and a legal right to — the information.
• They get your business or personnel records at work.
• They find personal information in your home.
• They use personal information you share on the Internet.
• They buy your personal information from “inside” sources. For example, an identity thief may pay a store employee for information about you that appears on an application for goods, services or credit.

How identity thieves use your personal information:

• They call your credit card issuer and, pretending to be you, ask to change the mailing address on your credit card account. The imposter then runs up charges on your account. Because your bills are being sent to the new address, it may take some time before you realize there’s a problem.
• They open a new credit card account, using your name, date of birth and SSN. When they use the credit card and don’t pay the bills, the delinquent account is reported on your credit report.
• They establish phone or wireless service in your name.
• They open a bank account in your name and write bad checks on that account.
• They file for bankruptcy under your name to avoid paying debts they’ve incurred under your name, or to avoid eviction.
• They counterfeit checks or debit cards, and drain your bank account.
• They buy cars by taking out auto loans in your name.

Courtesy of the FTC.

“This crime hits millions of Americans every year and it’s not always a stranger doing the damage,” says Todd Davis, chief executive officer of LifeLock, an online proactive identity theft prevention service. “Often the person doing the most damage is the one closest to us … the one that knows the same details about your life.”

Many victims of identity theft don’t report the crime to police. In the Federal Trade Commission’s report on 2006 consumer fraud and identity theft complaints, of the more than 233,000 victims who responded to a question about whether they had contacted a police department, 62 percent said they did not. “There are a large number of people victimized that never file a police report for various reasons,” says Davis. “Our experience has been that many cases go unreported because the victims are unwilling to prosecute the perpetrators who are often loved ones.”

Despite popular belief, the majority of identity theft cases do not originate online. “Good old fashioned stealing - whether it’s taking a wallet, removing mail from your mailbox or going through your trash - remains the easiest, most used mode for stealing identifying information,” Davis says. “People who are close to you have the best opportunity to steal your information using those methods.”

Classic identity theft scenarios range from a vengeful ex girlfriend or boyfriend who intentionally harms their ex’s credit, to elderly parents who discover their son has been dealing with his debt by stealing their identity and good credit rating. And in the most unsettling cases, parents have been known to steal their child’s identity and ruin his or her credit before they even finish grade school.

The Identity Theft Center reports that victims of the crime often liken its emotional impact to violent crimes including rape, assault and repeated battery. Others blame the crime for break ups of marriages or relationships with significant others, and creating other stress in their family lives, the center reports on its Web site.

The emotional element of the crime is compounded when the perpetrator is someone the victim knows, trusts and even loves, Davis says. “Obviously, sorting out identity theft is complex on a number of levels, from financial to personal.”

Experts agree the best way to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft is to take decisive steps to protect your identifying information like shredding identifying paperwork, such as credit card statements or offers, before it goes in the trash; storing social security cards, birth certificates and passports in safety deposit boxes outside the house; and declining to share social security, account numbers and passwords with anyone who doesn”t absolutely need to have the information.

Davis’ company takes the proactive approach one step further and automates much of the protection process. LifeLock places and automatically renews fraud alerts with all three major credit bureaus. The alert ensures you will receive a phone call whenever someone - even you - tries to establish new credit using your identifying information, or attempts to change an address.

LifeLock gives members annual credit reports from all three major bureaus, as well as quarterly updates when their fraud alerts are reset. LifeLock also stops pre-approved credit offers and reduces the amount of junk mail members receive. Finally, the company guarantees its service. Says Davis: “If your personal information is ever used while you are our client, we will fix the problem, repair your credit and replace every dime you lost from the theft up to $1 million.”