If you discover that you have become a victim, you can probably anticipate paying at least $500 in cold hard cash to get the problems corrected. This is real money, and does not even count the 80+ hours of your personal time that you will also need to invest in writing letters, sending faxes, making phone calls, and trying to convince very skeptical debtors that it was not you that racked up all those charges. As these thieves continue to get smarter, you must also keep up on what is going on for the best identity theft prevention measures that you can use.

Everyone has heard that one of the best ways to not become a victim is to shred all mail that comes into your home. This is a great first step. Make sure that you use a shredder that cross-cuts the paper, since this will completely alleviate the ability to put the document back together. One often overlooked item to shred is magazines. Many magazines have preprinted order forms inside that have your name and account number on them, so tear off the address label and the order form before you throw them out.

The government has become aware of the prevalence and severity of this crime and has implemented some legislation aimed at identity theft prevention. The first thing is allowing you to get a free credit report once a year from each of the credit bureaus so that you can see activity on your account and identify activity that should not be there.

The credit bureaus are also playing a part to help you here by allowing you to request an "opt out". What this means is that you will no longer get offers from banks and financial businesses in the mail. You will still get the ones you request, but you should no longer get the unsolicited offers.

The credit reporting agencies now will permit you to put a credit freeze on your account with them. The benefit of this is that nobody can run a credit report on you unless they have your express permission to do so. Obtaining that permission is designed to be a somewhat complex and cumbersome process. This will deter most identity thieves since there are so many other targets out there who are much easier victims.

If you still feel vulnerable, you might consider buying identity theft protection. Two popular ways are either hiring a company that monitors you credit report and notifies you of any changes or there are companies available that will help you prevent it to begin with. Either type of company can be found online and charge a monthly fee for the service.

With the amount of identity theft victims increasing every year, it is time that you really took identity theft prevention more seriously. Having your identity stolen will rob you of your good credit rating, cost you hundreds of dollars and take weeks and in most cases even months to repair the damage done.