The usual purpose is to acquire goods or services in your name through the use of credit or debit cards. The U.S. Postal Service calls it the "one of the fastest growing robbery crimes in America." By one industry estimate, more than 1,000 people a day in the United States fall victim to crimes of stolen identity. Phishing schemes can be carried out in person or over the phone, and are delivered online through spam e-mail or pop-up windows. One of the keys to preventing identity theft, therefore, is to safeguard personal information within the workplace, whether it's a business, government agency, or nonprofit. Before spending effort on legal suits, why not do preventive measures to avoid waste of time dealing with the consequences of being a helpless victim? The common saying still prevails: "Prevention is better than cure." It can happen by doing the following measures: 1. Transaction monitoring - this is done by taking care of the reports of your credit billing by requesting yearly low-charged credit reports 2. When using these credit cards and foot the bill in your name, such delinquencies will be reported on your credit report. This will make it harder for you to upgrade or make effective use of your own credit account because of your worsening credit record without you even knowing it. It can even go as far as using your name to the police during an arrest. Prompt Actions Against Identity Thieves Identity Theft soars high in crime reports at the U.S. 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. Results worsen, with the complete extracted information taken by this operator, if crime has intensified, against the stolen credentials, he could turn you over to authorities, put you into a pitiful scenario on a very long-termed redemption to financial recovery. With millions of websites worldwide, it s hard to trace the actual culprit.