Did you hear the one about the IRS agent who filed tax returns in other people's names to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen tax refunds?

Oh, that's a scary one.

Or what about the Australian woman whose personal information was used to make a fake passport, which ended up implicating her in an international assassination ring?

Oh, that would be so freaky.

Oh, and then there's the one with the tenant who with just a couple of pieces of stolen mail opened dozens of credit cards in her landlord's name?

Stop, I can't hear any more.

They say on a quiet night you can still hear him arguing with a customer service representative.

It's not funny, Philip.

Identity theft isn't just a scary story, it can happen to anyone.

I mean, with the Equifax and Facebook hacks, we could be next!

Shh!

What's that sound?

Oh, stop it.

No, really, it came from over there.

[screams] [music playing] If you haven't already fallen prey to some kind of financial fraud, odds are pretty good that you will in your lifetime.

A recent survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found 17.6 million Americans, or 7% of people over 16, will be a victim of identity theft each year.

The vast majority of these incidents are unauthorized uses of credit cards or bank accounts.

But these criminals will also use stolen info to pay for medical treatments, intercept tax refund, cash in airline miles, and set up utilities, like water and electricity.

While the frequency of identity theft is alarmingly high, the good news is that the monetary damage for most people is usually small.

According to a study conducted by the Federal Trade Commission, only 14% of identity theft victims were not reimbursed for their loss and only 7% suffered a loss of $100 or more.

The bigger risk is the amount of time and effort victims often have to spend to untangle their real identity from the fake one.

A stolen credit card can usually be cleared up in a few hours.

But if a thief opens new accounts in your name, it can haunt you for years.

Some victims don't even find out they've been compromised until they start getting letters from collection agencies or go into a bank to open an account and find out they've already got one.

And clearing your name can be a rabbit hole of bureaucracy.

Lenders and credit agencies tend to demand a lot of proof when you're trying to get out of paying a debt like passports, driver's licenses, social security cards, birth certificates, police reports, signed affidavits-- whew!

If only they had those high standards when the fraudsters were racking up the debt in the first place.

And if your info was used to pay for hospital fees or medications, your medical record might be mixed up with your identity thieves.

So not only could it be hard to get a mortgage in the future, you might not be able to get health insurance.

Thankfully, situations this extreme are pretty rare, but the risk isn't going away.

If you've been watching the news in the past year you might have heard there's a whole lot of back and going on-- Sony, Target, Equifax, Facebook.

So many people have been compromised, it's not really a matter of if.

It's a matter of when.

And that "when" can be way in the future.

Things like your name, birthday, and social security number are evergreen.

Hackers can sit on that info for decades before deciding to use it.

So what can you do?

Thankfully, the vast majority of banks and credit cards offer zero liability protection to account holders, meaning you will be completely refunded if you're victimized by fraud.

That's great for accounts you already have, but what about new lines of credit someone could opened in your name?

The three major credit bureaus-- Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian-- are required by law to provide you with a free credit report once a year, and you'll be able to see pretty quickly if there are accounts on there you don't recognize.

You've probably also seen ads for companies that will monitor your credit activity more closely for a monthly fee.

Some even search the dark web to see if your information is being bought or sold on the internet black markets.

But most of these precautions are reactive.

Their purpose is to alert you quickly once you become a target.

The only proactive thing you can do to protect yourself is freeze your credit.

Don't worry-- that doesn't mean you have to turn your charge cards.

Freezing your credit means no one will be able to open new lines of credit in your name, even you.

So if you don't plan on applying for any new loans in the near future, it might be a good idea.

Surprisingly, even though 2/3 of respondents to a recent poll said they were worried their identity had been compromised in last year's Equifax breach, only 19% reported taking any kind of precautionary steps not even finding out whether they were one of the victims.

Maybe they were counting on technology to protect them.

Maybe they figure there's safety in numbers.

Or maybe they're just too busy to worry about a problem until it's on their doorstep.

One thing is certain-- identity thieves have a perfect victim in mind when they're on the hunt.

This person doesn't keep a very close eye on their account balances.

They don't ever check their credit report or communicate regularly with their bank.

This is a person who can be victimized for years before even knowing it.

So while you can never protect yourself 100% from identity thieves, there's no reason you should make it easy for them.

And that's our Two Cents.

If you've been a victim of identity theft, your story could help others, protect themselves so share it with us below in the comments.