If you've taken steps to guard against identity theft by having your credit monitored, congratulations. You know you need some kind of protection against this fastest growing crime. That's the good news.

Here's the bad news:  You are still not safe.

You may even have increased the chances of becoming a victim.

How can that be?

Credit fraud is a factor in just 33% of identity theft cases. So if you are relying on one of those heavily advertised programs that monitor credit, put fraud alerts on credit bureau records, etc., you are still fully exposed to the sources of 67% of identity theft. You wouldn't lock your front door and then leave all your windows and the back door unlocked. Would you?

The truth is that credit monitoring is not identity protection.

Another truth: identity theft is not preventable. Your personal information is scattered in too many places, there are too many professional thieves, and there are nowhere near enough law enforcement resources available.