Recently my wife and I have been taking some steps to prevent problems associated with identity theft...
1. We have permanently opted-out from being included on all preapproved credit offering mailing lists utilizing the Equifax, Experian, Innovis and Trans Union databases. We may continue to receive notices from companies that do not use consumer data to compile lists, but I can tell you that we went from receiving many such offers to almost none in the month since we took this action. If you are tired of receiving a multitude of preapproved credit card offers, this should be the first thing on your to do list.
2. We contacted one of the big three credit reporting firms and submitted a fraud alert for both of our accounts. We used a toll-free number to begin the process. It costs nothing to do this, and a fraud alert initiated at one of the companies is automatically forwarded to the other two. The fraud alert temporarily halts any issuance of "instant credit" without confirmation via telephone, which effectively prevents the most common form of fraud associated with identity theft. The fraud alert does not impede getting credit, except for the verification requirement. Since we never use instant credit offers, it has no effect on us whatsoever.
People who submit a fraud alert also receive credit reports from the big three, free of charge...
3. The final step we are taking is to contact the big three (contacting only one may do the trick, but I sent letters to them all...) to place a seven-year fraud alert on our files. Technically, you have to state that you have been the victim of identity fraud, but instead I simply requested that the fraud alert be placed in our files, and that we would not be responsible for any credit issued in our names that was not verified by telephone.
Information on what to do and contact information can be found
here.
