[Slick]

I've lived through 2 years of hell from 1998 - 2000 because 2 idiots (women, surprisingly) stole outgoing checks out of my mailbox, chemically washed them (including the signatures, idiots) and rewrote them for $450 apiece. Like I said, this was a weekly PITA for 2 years until all issues got resolved. The 2 women are in federal prison now.

Bottom line advice from someone who has been there:

Take as many precautions as you can. Shread EVERY PIECE OF PAPER that you put in the trash. Balance your accounts monthly at least to find problems ASAFP. Don't let any of your personal information out if possible; especially on the phone. All of the above is good advice too.

Know that the burden is on YOU to recover your identity so it's much easier to protect it from being stolen in the first place than to go into damage control mode.