Identity theft is a societal nuisance that has been around for much too long and that requires to be approached aggressively because the ones who so cowardly decide to steal from individuals that work hard to make their earnings, have no consideration whatsoever for their victims. The same amount of resilience used by identity thieves to execute their vicious schemes should be put by all who make a decent living in order to make sure that these criminals don't succeed at it as easily as they presently do. 1- BEWARE OF UNSOLICITED INFO: if you find yourself receiving emails from any internet outsourcing site you have never contacted and that requests you giving any data including: a credit card number, a drivers's license, a phone number etc; don't provide them with the info even if it's not of a financial nature. The thing is that even getting something as simple as your phone number can allow so many scamming businesses to contact you under so many pretexts; disguising themselves as reputable companies such as: debt collecting companies, life-insurance companies and so on. 2- DONT DIVULGE TOO MUCH PERSONAL INFO VIA SOCIAL MEDIA: ok, while it's awesome to have the opportunity to connect with all kinds of people in a very enriching way thru Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; let's be cautious about how much we share about ourselves on those platforms (and on the ones that I haven't mentioned as well). Just keep in mind that there will always be someone out there preying on anyone that has a little too much to say, and posts it on their timeline for their friends and their friends' friends to know. There is a plotting and patient scammer studying somebody's routines and every move that are being publicly exposed in a consistent manner via social media; once they get all the details that they need, they will strike their next victim without any mercy or consideration. 3- DO YOUR ONLINE SHOPPING AT TRUSTWORTHY WEBSITES: I know this might sound obvious to some but it's important to point it out: even the most careful shopper can become a victim of identity theft! There are ways to find out if a website is reputable or not: one way is to ask family and friends if they recommend it and another is to use a link checker such as 'Web Of Trust', which shows you whether a site is safe or not. In case you choose not to shop online at all to ensure better protective measures, know that you're making a wise decision by doing so. There are of course many other methods that can be used to protect one's identity, but these are a few to keep in mind to effectively prevent online identity theft. The idea is to find all available tactics to keep personal information secure because if this problem is going to continue to soil society, why make it easier on the ones who practice it?