ID theft hits a little too close to home

Posted by Joe on December 18th, 2007

We have been covering identity theft protection services for months here at NextAdvisor so I was well aware that it was the fastest growing crime in the United States with well over 10 million Americans falling victim each year. That didn't make it any less surprising when my wife realized over the weekend that she had been the victim of credit card fraud – the largest segment of identity theft related crimes according to the FTC.

We regularly review our credit card statements for any suspicious activity. So, thankfully, she identified the several hundred dollars in false charges immediately and was able to report them to our credit card company before any additional charges or more serious identity theft could be perpetrated.

Needless to say, the first thing that she did after she had notified the credit card company was sign up for an identity theft protection service. She selected LifeLock because she liked the idea of their proactive "preventative" services as well as the simple sign up process.

We already strongly encourage our readers to use an identity theft protection service and even more so now that my family has been victimized. Our editors have reviewed several of the leading identity theft protection services. Check out our comparison and choose the program that is right for you.