How to Protect Against Identity Theft

If you have surfed around this blog a bit, feel free to consider yourself a bit of an expert on the subject of identity theft. You understand that this is a crime wave. You know credit card fraud accounts for barely 1/4 of the total picture -- and not even the most damaging 1/4 at that. You have read a few horror stories.  Now you're ready to act and protect your family against identity theft. Where to begin?

A few steps to take:

• First of all, protect your children. Check their credit reports at least a couple times a year. Children are popular victims because the criminal can get away with it for many years before the child needs to get a loan or apply for financial aid. Keep track of your kids' identities.
• Keep track of where your family's information goes. This can be very helpful in tracking down the criminals. Make a log of every time you submit personal information anywhere, especially your SSN. If your identity is compromised, you can go back through that log and isolate suspects.
• For the love of Pete, shred every single document you throw in the garbage. Even a birthday card can give an identity thief a bit of information that they can use against you (your birthday). Holiday cards should also be shredded as they can reveal things like, say, your mother's maiden name.
• For the love of Petrov, protect your computer. Chances are that this will not be a vector for identity theft, but minimize those chances further by keeping a tight lid on things. I can recommend a good product for protecting your Windows PC.
• If your personal information is compromised -- or if you think it might have been -- inform the credit bureaus and law enforcement immediately. (That's a no-brainer, but a lot of people don't do it for some strange reason.)
• Protect yourself and your spouse by subscribing to a service like Identity Lookout. If you don't use Identity Lookout or don't like me for some reason, please use another one of these services. They're well worth the miniscule investment. (Another no-brainer, really...)

May you get lucky and never fall victim to this crime. I wouldn't wish that nightmare on my worst enemy.