Identity theft is a real crime and yet there have been relatively few convictions in comparison to the number of identity theft crimes committed every year. When your identity is stolen and your credit vandalized your chances of getting employment, getting loans and credit are significantly diminished. You also run the risk of being incriminated for crimes you didn’t commit if fake ids containing your information are found at crime scenes, the list goes on and on.

This is why identity theft protection services have become a big necessity for consumers. These services work for you 24/7 making sure that even if an identity thief does get a hold of your personal information, they can’t actually use it. For a detailed explanation of the security features used to protect your identity, be sure to read our identity theft protection service reviews.

In recent years there has been a lot of hype about identity theft and the newly popular identity theft prevention services that automate id protection for subscribers. This industry is still fairly new but it is only new to most consumers, while corporations and government entities have been employing these services for years. The best and most practical way anyone can protect their identity from this horrible crime is to employ the services of the experts, which at this time are still relatively inexpensive.

Identity theft prevention, in the 21st century, is a big responsibility not an optional measure. Consider all the places where you have at one point in your life given your personal information, specifically your social security number. The DMV has it, your doctor’s office has it, your employer’s HR department has it, your college or university, your insurance company, your landlord or mortgage company etc. Having distributed your social security number to so many places with the trust that they’ll handle it appropriately is all the protection you assumed when you volunteered your personal information.

It is these organizations, the financial and medical institutions that are being hacked and farmed for the information of their members and subscribers. These are called “data breaches” and there are hundreds of these incidents every year exposing millions of personal records and increasing the chances that more and more people will become victims of identity theft.

There are many estimates for the year 2007 all reporting different numbers, but around 160 million personal records were exposed during this year alone from several data breach incidents. That was a record year, and in 2008 no significant action has been taken at a high level, in the form of legislation to force these organizations to adopt stronger measures to secure personal records.

So when you see ads for Life Lock, Identity Guard, Identity Truth, Trusted ID or any other providers of identity theft prevention services, it may sound to you like they’re just yelling “the sky is falling”, but the fact is your information is out there and even if you’re doing everything in your power to protect it, how well it is handled by anyone else in possession of it is completely out of your control.

Whether you take it as media hype, or scare tactics, identity theft is a real threat and it is occurring at alarming rates across the U.S. We’re no longer referring to the hijacking of your credit card number and having charges run up on it, those incidents are relatively simple to fix today. By law you’re only responsible for the first $50 dollars and even then you’re likely not to have to pay that amount either. We’re actually referring to your social security number; this is where an identity theft criminal can do the most damage.

The thief can open more than credit accounts, they could buy a house under your identity, or a car, they could even get social security benefits, and they can also get medical care under your identity which can complicate your life to an extent for which there’s yet little resolution to favor the victim.

You don’t have to be at fault for any of this to happen to you, your information can be given to these identity theft criminals by the people you entrusted your information to. Phishing scams are still prevalent and even though you know not to give your personal information over the phone or email, your doctor’s office clerk may not be so hard to dupe.

Public records are constantly mined for personal information and because they’re public records they are free to access, again there’s no legislation that can legally stop this madness so it’s all on the individual. Public records represent anything from real estate deeds, to lawsuits, bankruptcy records, divorce records, small claims court, city and county business registration offices etc. All of which are available to anyone and everyone. So what you consider private information is easily available to whoever needs to know it bad enough.

How to stop identity theft

Let’s be perfectly clear about something else, you can in fact do much of what an identity theft prevention service provider can do, on your own, and many of these tips are available on our free identity theft protection guide. The best way to stop identity theft from happening to you is to be proactive. Check your credit often, never volunteer personal information to anyone you don’t know or trust, keep your sensitive information filed safely at home and set fraud alerts on your credit file. These are just a few of the things everyone should do. For a complete detailed guide on how to protect against identity theft download our free guide.

You can do a lot on your own to stop identity theft, but because it is not your full time job to look after your own identity, it becomes less than practical to monitor your own credit and social security number around the clock. So when you have a protection plan dedicated to watching your information and making sure it is not being traded in the financial black markets, you can relax knowing that you have protection 24×7 and that’s the function of the identity theft protection services available today. Also because all these memberships come with service guarantees and insurance policies, in case your identity does get stolen, you can rest easy knowing that they’ll spend the necessary funds and work hard to restore your identity and clear your name.

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