The crime called identity theft is dangerous for two reasons: the current statistics regarding the actual victims run very high and, aside from actual victims, many people still don’t know much about the crime.  In 2007 alone, there were over ten million identity theft victims in the United States.  Consequently, during that same year, $49.3 billion in losses to businesses and individual victims were wasted because of identity thieves.  Take note that those alarming figures concern with the United States alone.  Just imagine what is happening in the other parts of the globe.As organized theft rings are almost always one step ahead of everybody, there is no fool-proof step to avoid identity theft.  There are some identity theft protection plans being offered by financial institutions which reimburses for out-of-pocket expenses up to a certain dollar amount and helps with the process of contacting creditors, writing affidavits and filing reports. Some individual companies such as LifeLock offer identity theft protection plans for a monthly fee.  LifeLock Reviews provide independent takes from people and companies who have tried the theft protection services.  These plans offer more features such as fraud alerts, credit monitoring, identity theft insurance coverage, stop of pre-approved offers, and scanning the Internet for misuse of your credit card and social security numbers.  Availing of identity theft protection as early as possible remains the bottom line.