In one notorious case of identity theft, a convicted felon have not only incurred thousands of credit card debt by using another person's identity, he was also able to obtain a federal home loan, and even bought homes, motorcycles, and handguns using the victim's name. What is even more frustrating is that the felon even called his victim to taunt him -- saying that he could continue to assume the victim's identity for as long as he wanted because identity theft was not a federal crime at that time. Frank got weak in the knees and really dizzy when she heard the shocking, almost surreal news. After which she got mad as heel, and decided then and there that she would fight against these kinds of crimes if only to avenge what happened to her. Most guides on preventing identity theft focus on steps consumers can take, such as shredding their trash and protecting their SSN. It is far more convenient than any existing functions, paves effective, immediate response to the flow of results that goes about in the corporate, as well as the commercial world. Almost all manufacturing corporations have applied the e-commerce way in trading their productions. In as much as the online services is adapted, emerged the rampant flow of all kinds of thieves to victimize any unfortunate subject inside the e-biz conglomerates. There have been many reported cases of identity number theft stemming from stolen check books. 4. Have your Social Security Number memorized so you wouldn t have to carry your SS card with you always. Carrying your SS card all of the time increases the risk of it being lost or stolen. If that happen you will be making yourself vulnerable to identity number theft. Some even listen in on your conversation if you give your credit-card number over the telephone to a hotel or rental car company. Even the area near your home or office may not be secure. Some criminals engage in "dumpster diving" going through your garbage cans or a communal dumpster or trash bin -- to obtain copies of your checks, credit card or bank statements, or other records that typically bear your name, address, and even your telephone number. If you have found out that you have charges on your credit card that you haven t known about, chances are that someone has been using your credit card. In case you find yourself experience such problems, there are some steps that you should undertake. First of all, you should try to contact the fraud departments in order to put a fraud alert on your credit report.