Most of us think that we are just too careful to be the victim of an identity thief. We look after our cards, and shred all our trash.

When my colleague's identity was stolen, he didn’t realise that anything was wrong for several weeks. By then, all the problems had been caused. Without any support from an identity fraud protection insurance policy, he was on his own to pick up the pieces. It took almost a year before he felt confident that all he personal details were OK again, and everything was back to normal.

His problem that he lived in a flat where there was a shared mailbox - a perfect formula for an identity thief or someone desperate enough to become one.

So it was simple for them to pick up a few bank statements ‘by accident’. At the time, the missing bank statement went un-noticed, and it was so easy for the identity thief to start setting up new accounts and getting credit. It wasn’t until he happened to pick up a letter about an account he had not set up that he got curious.

So, after the police got involved, he got a new locked mail box, spoke to banks, credit card companies, credit agencies and all sorts of other people to try and sort out the mess – it all took up a lot of time. Apart from the major hassle it caused that went on for weeks, and the hours of work trying to sort out the mess, I suppose that he was quite fortunate. The culprit was caught and financially he did not lose too much.

Others are not so lucky and lose a lot of their hard earned cash. Too many people just keep burying their head in the sand, thinking that their credit information is safe and that no-one would want it anyway.

Your very good credit rating has real value, so it needs to be protected. Without a good credit rating it is very difficult even to get a new cell phone contract, never mind a new credit card. If you are unlucky and your details are passed on to others they can be used for all sorts of on-line transactions right across the world.

Fortunately if you discover it in time, most banks are sympathetic and limit your liabilities, but if it goes on for more than 60 days, you could be in for a nasty financial shock. You will feel like a thief has been in your house, and have to spend time sorting out the mess that would be better spent doing other things.

Even simple things like destroying your paper trash if it contains your name, address, bank or credit card details can make you less susceptable to the opportunist thief.

One of the more worrying aspects of identity fraud is that many of us give our personal details away on Social Networking sites It is easy to get hold of your name, location and date of birth if your security settings are lax, and these can readily lead to more information being obtained just by sitting at a computer. If your personal information is visible to friends of friends, you might as well publish it in a national newspaper.

Don't imagine that you are immune, over 9 million American people had their identity compromised last year alone.

There are ways in which you can check your ID status yourself, so it is worth doing before any damage occurs.

It will certainly be too late to do anything afterwards.

It is wise to get it sorted out now.