I thought it was interesting that a story in the paper was about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his wife were the victims of identity theft recently.

Anna Bernanke's purse was stolen at a Capitol Hill Starbucks in August 2008. In her purse was her Social Security card, checkbook, credit cards, and identification cards.

Maybe it's different for women or power figures, but I certainly don't carry my Social Security card around. Nor my checkbook for that matter. I haven't written a check in years. My credit cards, debit cards, and online accounts took the place of checks.

One person has already been convicted in what apparently was a massive identity theft ring that involved $2.1 million and ten financial institutions.

Identify theft is the fastest-growing crime in America. Here are some tips to help you keep from becoming a victim:

1. Keep your Social Security card at home. Surely by now you have the number memorized.
2. If you dispose of a personal computer, erase the data from the hard drive, which requires more than using the delete key on the computer. If you don't know how to do it, hire someone to make sure that none of your personal information is leaving your home on the computer.
3. Make it hard for computer hackers to follow you. Don't check the "Remember me" box whenever you visit a web site or enter user IDs, passwords, and other personal infromation.
4. Make sure you know exactly what is in your wallet. Make photocopies of everything, and if you don't need something because you use it rarely, remove it and put it in a safe place at home.
5. Check your credit reports regularly. Since you are entitled to a free report each year from each of the three credit agencies -- Experian, TransUnion, and EquiFax -- order from one company every four months, i.e., Experian in April, TransUnion in August, and EquiFax in December. That way you'll know what's going on every four months at no cost to you.
6. Buy a cross-shredder for your home and destroy statements and other personal information from banks, gas companies, department stores, etc., before throwing it in the trash.
7. Remove your name from the marketing lists of the credit reporting bureaus to reduce the number of pre-approved credit offers you receive. The more offers you receive, the more people who are looking at your personal information.
8. Contact the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service and Telephone Preference Service and have them delete your name from their lists.
9. If you still use checks and snail mail to pay bills, don't mail them from home unless you have a secured post office lockbox on your street. Take them directly to the post office.
10. Never give out personal information on the phone unless you called them.
11. Don't pay your credit card bills without first looking at all the charges on your statement.
12. If you think you are a victim, notify the three credit reporting agencies as well as your local law enforcement office.