Some companies include these kinds of insurance as part of their homeowners insurance policies while others sell them as stand alone policies or as an endorsementa to a homeowners or renters insurance policies. On average, these policies cost between $25 and $50 for $15,000 to $25,000 worth of coverage. If you are using see-thru plastic envelopes for documents in process, try to shield them from direct curiosity of anyone. Exposed content identity number on way to documentation and office tours could be stolen instantly by a mere peep. People are trained so effectively for certain specific purposes, right or wrong. Under the "Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998," it defined how it is a crime to make unlawful use of another person's identification, which is controlled by mandatory requirement to be identified by just using name or Social Security Number. No matter how many kinds of imposed protection is done to avoid intrusion of privacy through chains of private information through government and non-governmental listings, the problem is sieved by the clever manipulations of the offenders. Notorious criminals gaining control over important data of checking accounts, credit cards, social security, telephone numbers, passwords to either website or bank accounts, certainly will create havoc. Aside from using influence over one s name thru purported deceptions, he will continue committing bad actions under one s name to destroy long-established good reputation. Remember that this is not just a simple theft that you can just forget about afterwards. Losing your identity can have a lot of repercussions not only in terms of personal properties but also with social reputation. And because identity thieves are real slick, authorities would not know what is happening unless you tell them so. There are identity crimes that are not solved until after a decade because of the lack of information. Remember that though these crimes may be easily detected through credit card purchases, there are some con artists that do not use that avenue. What they do is just assume your name and personal history and use it as their own.