A medical receptionist with good credit starts getting collection calls. After she’s turned down for a mortgage, she checks her credit report – she owes $22,000 on credit cards she doesn’t even have.

A salesman in San Diego is pulled over for a minor traffic violation. Next thing he knows, he’s in jail. There’s a warrant out for his arrest for fraud.

Both are victims of identity theft, the fastest growing white-collar crime in America. The statistics are mind-boggling:

• There were 7 million victims in 2003, an increase of 80 percent over the prior year.
• Victims spend an average of 600 hours and $1,400 in out-of-pocket expenses recovering from this crime.
• Business losses amount to between $40,000 and $92,000 per stolen identity.
• The average arrest rate is under five percent of all cases reported by victims.

Even if you think you’re in control of your personal information, skilled thieves have ways of getting what they want. Among their favorite methods include:

• stealing wallets and purses containing identification and credit and bank cards
• stealing mail, including bank and credit card statements, pre-approved credit offers, new checks, or tax information
• completing a change-of-address form to divert mail to another location
• stealing personal information from your home
• posing as a legitimate business person or government official to get information from you
• rummaging through your trash and the trash of businesses in a practice known as “dumpster diving”
• obtaining credit reports by abusing their employer’s authorized access or by posing as a landlord or employer
• stealing business records from offices where you’re a customer, employee, student or patient

When thieves obtain your personal information, they can create a whole new you. For example, they can:

• Open new credit card accounts or establish phone or wireless service in your name, charge up a bundle and not pay the bills. The delinquent account is then reported on your credit report.
• Open a bank account in your name and write bad checks on that account.
• File for bankruptcy under your name to avoid paying debts they’ve incurred.
• Counterfeit checks or debit cards and drain your bank account.
• Buy cars by taking out auto loans in your name.
• Give your name to the police during an arrest. When they don’t show up for their court date, an arrest warrant is issued in your name.

Security professionals can help minimize identity and information theft. Heightened vigilance and these tips can have a big impact:

• Control access to keep unauthorized individuals out of the facility.
• Use secure document disposal systems.
• Monitor document and trash disposal areas for unauthorized persons.
• Watch for suspicious activity at mailboxes and mail collection areas.
• Be alert to people loitering at ATMs or retail counters. They may be attempting to “shoulder surf” or grab transaction records.
• Make sure that only authorized documents and equipment leave the facility.
• Carefully follow guidelines at sites with formal information security programs.

What You Can Do to Protect Yourself from Identity theft

• Order a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once a year.
• Don't carry your SSN card; leave it in a secure place.
• Secure personal information in your home, especially if you have roommates, employ outside help or are having service work done in your home.
• Deposit outgoing mail in post office collection boxes or at your local post office.
• Tear or shred your charge receipts, credit applications, insurance forms, physician statements, checks and bank statements, expired charge cards that you're discarding and credit offers you get in the mail.
• Protect your credit card, bank and phone accounts with passwords.
• Pay attention to your billing cycles. Follow up with creditors if your bills don't arrive on time.
• Be wary of promotional scams. Identity thieves may use phony offers to get you to give them your personal information.
• When ordering new checks, pick them up at the bank, rather than having them sent to your home mailbox.
• Download the Federal Trade Commission’s guide to identity theft, available at www.consumer.gov/idtheftwww.consumer.gov/idtheft.