The term Identity Theft spans over a whole range of crimes resulting from breach of privacy. Even though protecting your personal and financial information is becoming increasingly difficult, there are several steps that you can take to improve your chances -by a great extent if I may add -of safe-guarding your private/confidential data from prying eyes.

Internet has further compounded this problem by placing all our corporate and personal computer networks and our datastores only a few hops away from those hacking away relentlessly from remote parts of the world. However, there are quite a few simple steps that you can take to bolster your defenses against identity thieves -regardless of whether they are home-grown or international identity thieves.

Here are a few simple ways to ward off identity theft:

• Watch Your Mailbox: If your curbside mailbox is not secure, have all your mail go to a Post Office Box. Empty your mailbox regularly, and never leave your outgoing mail in your mailbox -especially your outgoing bill payments and checks.
• Shred All Your Records: Especially all your bank statements, credit card statements, ATM transaction printouts, credit card receipts, deposit slips, gas station receipts, supermarket receipts, copies of your checks, and all your private records.
• Review Your Bank Statements & Your Credit Card Statements: Notify your bank or your creditcard issuer if you spot any strange entries on those statements. Do not simply discard any credit cards that you may not be using -contact the issuer and get those credit card accounts officially closed.
• Avoid Those Phishing Scams: Most of us receive at least a few of those emails every day that claim to be from our bank, alerting us that our bank accounts have been compromised, and that we must immediately login using a "secure form" hosted on their website. Those emails involve what is now commonly known as a phishing scam. Their goal is to trick you into entering your bank account number, as well as your password using a webpage that deceptively looks very similar to the authentic/official website. As soon as one falls for such a scam, and enters his/her bank account number and access code, it is usually all over. The important thing to remember is this: your bank will never ask you to provide them with your password or your ATM pin number. If you have fallen for a phishing scam, notify your bank right away, and then contact consumer credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian & Trans Union) and place a fraud alert on your credit report. I often wonder how many unsuspecting people may be falling for such scams on a daily basis.
• Beware of Those Skimmers: A skimmer is a pocket-size credit card magnetic strip reader, about the size of a credit card. Usually, a criminal teams up with a cashier at a consumer store, or a waiter at a restaurant. When you hand over your credit card to him, he not only runs it through the register, but also swipes it through the skimmer -thereby digitally recording all the information stored within the magnetic strip of your credit card. The information so collected is often resold to scammers located in other parts of the world who would then run up additional charges on your credit card. The best way to protect against skimmers is to never lose sight of your credit card, and to pay with cash whenever possible.
• Protect Your Social Security Number: Do not carry your social security card in your wallet or your purse. Don't forget that your health insurance card or your auto insurance card may also have your social security number printed on them. Once the thieves have your social security number, it is usually not that difficult for a seasoned thief to order new credit cards, to obtain your credit credit report, and to drain your bank accounts. Do not readily provide your social security number to everyone that demands it. To those that insist that you provide them with your social security number, ask them for a copy of their privacy policy, and further ask them about the safeguards (if any) they may have instituted to protect your private information.
• Check your Credit Reports: Periodically obtain and review your credit report. Notify the consumer credit reporting companies and ask them to place an alert on your credit report if you notice any thing abnormal on your credit report.

Also see the following helpful documents:

• Guide to Preventing, Identifying, and Reporting Identity Theft.
• Are You a Victim of Identity Theft? How to find out if your identity has been stolen.
• How to Get Free Credit Reports?
• Cost of Requesting Additional Credit Reports in Your State of Residence.
• Contacting Credit Reporting Agencies: Equifax, Experian & Trans Union.
• Placing Fraud Alerts at Equifax, Experian & Trans Union.
• Removing Fraudulent Entries From Your Credit Report