Federal Trade Commission (FTI) and other government bureaucracies; credit report agencies, Forensic Accounting firms, investigators, and other private consortiums to protect victims. Any holder of information identifiers of social security number, credit cards, bank account number, driver s license, health care, and other financial sources is at risk. Identity theft cases rarely end in arrests because the guilty party can too easily cover his or her tracks. However, after you report identity theft to the police, you should contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC is the government agency through which all the cases of identity thefts must pass through before being investigated at the federal level. What about checking the accounts that you don't know about? Identity thefts may open new accounts for mobile phones, credit cards and even make larger purchases like buying an apartment and you won't know it unless the credit collectors finally trace the bills back to you after the perpetrators run off with the bills. In one notorious case of identity theft, a convicted felon have not only incurred thousands of credit card debt by using another person's identity, he was also able to obtain a federal home loan, and even bought homes, motorcycles, and handguns using the victim's name. What is even more frustrating is that the felon even called his victim to taunt him -- saying that he could continue to assume the victim's identity for as long as he wanted because identity theft was not a federal crime at that time. Keep this list in a secure spot at home. When you purchase items with credit, always take your credit card receipts with you. Never toss them in a waste basket. Do not have boxes of new checks delivered to your home. Arrange to pick them up at the bank or credit union. Do not write credit card numbers on checks. If you need protection from identity theft, all you will need is look in the mirror. Protecting ourselves from identity theft will primarily depend on us. We must be able to understand that such a problem exists and we must be very careful in giving our personal information to anyone. Our personal information has become one of our very valuable possessions.