With the ongoing threat of identity theft, by now more and more people are starting to pay attention to the possible consequences of identity theft should it happen to them. So they’re probably now wondering, do identity theft protection services really work? Do I really need to spend the money to outsource protecting my identity? There unfortunately isn’t a straight answer to these questions. The needs, lifestyles and risks vary too much.

Identity theft cases are constantly in the news and the incidents vary from city clerks involved in criminal rings that steal identities to parents stealing the identities of their own children. People you do business with and those around you are as much likely to be the thieves as someone half way around the world.

If identity theft is a real concern for you, consider first taking on the task of implementing proactive and continuous efforts to secure your own identity. You can first start by following our own “Identity Theft Prevention Guide”, which is available for free to all our readers. This short guide will provide you with a basic list of things you need to be doing right now to protect your own identity.

The guide will prove that many of the prevention steps an identity theft protection company will do for you, you can do yourself. The difference in the two is the accuracy and effectiveness of their state of the art technology that helps to provide services that no individual can provide for themselves.

If the tasks listed on the guide are more than you can handle, then you need to consider outsourcing the task and this can prove beneficial and effective for your overall protection.

What identity theft protection services do:
•    Monitor credit reports to detect suspicious activities
•    Place and renew fraud alerts on your credit files with all three credit bureaus
•    Monitor online identity black markets
•    Assist when you lose your wallet or purse
•    Remove your name from unwanted mail/marketing lists
•    Opt you out of pre-approved credit offers
•    Provide medical benefits protection (only Trusted ID so far)
•    Extend protection for your family as well (Trusted ID and Identity-Truth)

These and other security features are automated for you so you don’t have to do it yourself. However the biggest benefit of these services besides the peace of mind you get from knowing you’re protected is the insurance policy or service warranty, which can range from $20,000 to $1,000,000 in case your identity does get compromised.

So do these services work? Yes they work, however they’re not 100% safe since identity thieves are becoming more and more resourceful and criminal rings are resorting to unconventional methods of identity theft which include bribing social workers, medical staff and financial clerks. It is best that you have some level of protection that includes a policy that will help you monetarily recover from an incident.

The social security numbers they use to get employment are sold to them by identity theft criminals and in many cases they simply put together a random 8 digit number and sometimes they just happen to be the number belonging to an actual person. Although they simply do not know any better, the issue remains that the victims affected by their actions face serious consequences when their information is used. The financial burdens, emotional distress and often legal proceedings are more than anyone should bare due to someone else’s ignorance of the law.

Federal law imposes a mandatory two year prison sentence on anyone who commits identity fraud. An article on the NY Times talks about Supreme Court Justices who are not sure whether workers who use Social Security and alien registration numbers must know that they belong to someone else to be prosecuted and be subject to the two year prison sentence.

There is a flaw in the way the law is stated for it says that the law makes it a crime to “knowingly” or without lawful authority use a means of identification of another person. Federal appeals courts in Boston, San Francisco and Washington interpret the law as “the prosecution must prove the defendant knew the social security number belonged to another person to be found guilty”.

Should they or should they not be held accountable for using someone else’s identification even if they did not know it? Not knowing the law or being aware of wrong doings has never been a good excuse in any court of law in the United States.  The crime is still Identity Theft and the victims are real people with real lives who are being negatively impacted by this crime whether committed by someone who knows they’re doing something wrong or not.