Identity Theft Gets Personal

I remembered her asking for the first three digits of my Social Security number but not my PIN.

He asked: How did I know she was really calling from the bank? The next time, he said, ask the person if you can call him or her back and call the phone number on the back of your card. "You just never know," he said.

I felt so dumb -- but it turned out I was lucky. The woman really was calling from Bank of America.

Stewart gave me other tips. Don't carry too many credit cards, debit cards or other information with personal information in my wallet. Don't use the debit card so much. If you need to use a debit card, have one with a small amount of money in the account to minimize how much of cash can be stolen. Use a marker to write a note on the back of your card asking that the merchant request an identification card. And think about asking your bank for a new card number every couple of years.

But after talking to a few other experts, I realized that there is only so much you really can do.

"There are lots of ways that consumers can minimize their risks but I would hesitate to say that someone can completely immunize themselves from identity theft," said Betsy Broder, assistant director in the FTC's Division of Privacy and Identity Protection. "That's because you're not the only one who has your data."

10% of Victims Lose at Least $1,200

Back at the police station, Stewart said a detective might follow up with me -- or not.

I was on my way to moving on when, a few weeks later, I got a surprising phone call from a Fairfax County detective.

She said she had found someone in possession of my debit-card number while conducting another investigation. As far as I know, it was not one of my ex-boyfriends.

She asked me to think back to all the places I had used my card. Safeway maybe? As a single, working woman, I don't cook. The last time I had been to a supermarket, frankly, was to buy bags of ice for a party. A doctor's office? I e-mailed her my bank statement so she could see where I have used my card.

Late last month, I received a call from another detective. The police might be close to charging at least one person in my case, he said. Both detectives asked me not to write much more about the investigation because it was ongoing.

In the end, I realized how lucky I was -- I didn't lose money. According to the FTC, 10 percent of victims lose $1,200 or more. I received my credit reports by mail and so far, they contain nothing suspicious, though I will keep monitoring them. And the person or people who stole my information might actually get charged with a crime. How often does that happen, I asked some experts.

"People don't get caught," said Broder. "There are 8 million cases and we know there are not 8 million prosecutions in a given year."

Washington Post staff writer Nancy Trejos and Adam Levin, chairman of Identity Theft 911 LLC, will answer questions about how to protect yourself from identity theft at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Go tohttp://washingtonpost.com/business.