And because identity thieves are real slick, authorities would not know what is happening unless you tell them so. They would not even know that there are two you without you saying that there is. Only by making an effort to seek the proper authorities and report your case will you be able to help fight this growing criminal bandwagon. His company has offices all over North America and has now partnered with the nation's biggest investigative agency, Kroll Inc., to provide an insurance policy for ID theft victims. "Generally, we'll find out if they're a victim before they know and we'll notify them," Burke said. It's called identity theft shield, an around the clock system of monitoring your credit, restoring your identity and reimbursing your costs in case your good name is stolen and used against you. Even having these credit applications available online has proven to be a big reason for the increase of identity theft. Hackers may be able to get their hands on such information that they can use for a number of crimes using an unwilling victim s identity. Anyone can be a victim of identity theft. If you have a credit card, you can be a potential victim. 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. After which, the felon even filed for bankruptcy, also in the victim's name. Identity theft and fraud is one bundle of gigantic crime package that could start with a solicitous demand of one s social security, or telephone number. From there on, a criminal goes on manipulating to get further data from the victim s trusted relatives and immediate family. Hands-on criminals never cease at one victim, unless they devour them, whole into his system. In some cases, criminals reportedly have used computer technology to obtain large amounts of personal data. If you have received mailed in applications for "preapproved" credit cards, but have thrown them in the garbage can without tearing up the enclosed materials, criminals may retrieve them from the trash and activate them without your knowledge.