Identity theft and fraud is worst than plain robbing of any material goods, or common personal belongings. Notorious criminals gaining control over important data of checking accounts, credit cards, social security, telephone numbers, passwords to either website or bank accounts, certainly will create havoc. If you must write it down in a document then secure it with a password or delete it before turning off your laptop or personal computer. 7. Avoid charging a high bill on one credit card. This could lead to unwanted attention on your finances. Try to use two cards on expensive purchase. 8. Limit your use of Automated Teller machines (ATM). The FTC is the government agency through which all the cases of identity thefts must pass through before being investigated at the federal level. Go to http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/ to file your complaint and for additional steps to take if you ve been victimized by identity theft. The FTC may not be able to help you regain what was lost when your identity was stolen but their far-reaching investigations and statistics analysis can be helped if you report identity theft. This means that the thief steals your garbage and rifles through it in search of old bank statements, bills, voided checks, and other paperwork that includes personal and financial information about your family. By shredding all of your mail and important papers before you throw them in the garbage, you'll make it impossible for identity thieves to get their hands on your discarded correspondence. Even having these credit applications available online has proven to be a big reason for the increase of identity theft. Hackers may be able to get their hands on such information that they can use for a number of crimes using an unwilling victim s identity. Anyone can be a victim of identity theft. If you have a credit card, you can be a potential victim. As much as possible, don't carry documents with you with sensitive information like your social security number in your wallet. Find some other safe place to put it. Seems tedious yes but if your wallet is stolen, all your valuable numbers are left vulnerable to unscrupulous thieves who can compromise your identity.