2.  Identity theft is the taking of one’s personal information and using it for yourself. Usually for illegal reasons. Though its all illegal if you even do it.  You might not even know your identity has been stolen until merchandise (which you never purchased) is on your doorstep, and your being charged for it.

3. You should be careful who you trust with your personal information.

4.  Identity thieves don’t choose a person; the just get your credit number, or social security number, and use it to their behalf.  Don’t believe every eBay like website.  Make sure its trustable. Maybe you’ve used it before. If the sites unknown, check it out first.

5.  You should make all of your personal web passwords different, but easy to remember.  Don’t give any of your personal info to anyone you don’t know. (obviously)  If a online store asks for anything beyond what they really need, be sure its probably a hoax, and find a different website.

6. Call your credit/bank company, tell them to check where the last payment was made. If you want to make a case, depending on the amount of your money that was spent go to your nearest police department.

7.  Identity thieves don’t care if your old, young, male, female, rich, dirt poor, white, black, purple, rainbow. They will prey on who ever they can easily use to their own advantage.

8.  Say your home on the web and you get a “YOU NEED TO UPDATE” on your computer, if you’ve made an update. You shouldn’t need to, so carefully close it, if it doesn’t close unplug your computer.  Say you’ve left your purse in a public place, make sure to take it with you. Someone could take easily a credit/debit card, or driver’s license, social security card. Any form of personal information. You need to be careful!

9.  “Illinois consumer  "On May 8th, I received a letter from (a credit card company) in which they said my... account had been closed as of May 4, the same day the letter was dated. They said it was due to negative information on a... credit report. I received no notification from them prior to their decision. The negative information appeared, because I have been a victim of identity theft, and this was clearly noted on my report as of April 7. I learned about the problem just the week before that. A formal dispute was filed with (the credit reporting agency) on April 18. (The credit card company) said I had only 30 days from the date of their letter to send an updated report and clear everything up, even though the dispute process generally takes longer than this, and that only after the credit report has been received. When (the credit reporting agency) sent me a new report, all the accounts I disputed had been deleted, but another one has appeared that is also identity theft. We are now working through that case. Police reports have been filed on this account and on one other we discovered earlier. I explained all this to (the credit card company) - with whom I've had an account for 11 years, with no late payments" (This story posted online on 01/25/05)”

10.  1. Get Your Identity Stolen…And Then Get Sued. Imagine: You’re a single mom from the Bronx working hard to get by on just $2,000 a month. Suddenly one day, $38,000 disappears from your savings account and your bank slaps you with a lawsuit demanding $23,000! That’s exactly what happened to Gloria Carlo two years ago, the New York Post reports. Carlo says she lost more than $68,000 in total as a result of identity thieves stealing her information and making purchases on Jewelry Television, Shop NBC, QVC and the Home Shopping Network.

11.  4. Not Even to 4 th Grade Yet and Already a Victim of Identity Theft. Parents, pay especially close attention to this unfortunate identity theft story. These days, ID theft victims are getting younger and younger. The Consumerist reports that a thief stole the identity of 9-year-old Kyle Shoemaker to open up two credit card accounts and an $18,000 line of credit. Apparently, ID thieves don’t discriminate against age.

12.  (Pictures)http://google.com/images/idenity theft  10/19/2009  http://www.bbbonline.org/IDTHEFT/stories.asp http://www.bbbonline.org/IDTHEFT/stories.asp  10/21/2009  http://identity-theft- solution.org/uncategorized/10-unbelievable-yet- true-identity-theft-stories http://identity-theft- solution.org/uncategorized/10-unbelievable-yet- true-identity-theft-stories  10/21/2009