Are you out of work and looking for a job? Unfortunately, there may be some people out there who wish to prey on your bad fortune. Identity thieves in particular have recently ramped up activity as they seek to take advantage of our country's bad economic situation and turn it into a goldmine for themselves. So, how are they doing it?

While millions of consumers continue to fall victim to identity theft each year, many are starting to fight back with new tools— credit alerts and credit freezes. Sounds effective, right? Though they are a great way to prevent thieves from opening new credit in your name, credit alerts and freezes are unfortunately not a total silver bullet. So, before you rush out to lock up your credit, read on to learn about these techniques, how they can prevent identity theft , and where they might fall short.

Is it really necessary to carry your social security card around with you like a driver's license? Not at all, yet many people sill tote around one of the most confidential pieces of personal information as if they might need it at any moment. If you do, you're taking a great risk because identity thieves armed with your social security number can do a lot more than simply open up a fraudulent credit card account. They can essentially start a whole new life using your SSN as the foundation.

Think you're having a bad day? Stuck in traffic, late for work, your kid is flunking math, the kitchen is a mess after dropping an egg? Well, you can relax and count your blessings. Because as horrible as those days might be, they pale in comparison to the ulcer-inducing rush of discovering that someone out there has not only stolen your identity, but is also hard at work leveraging your lifelong pursuit of solvency while sending your credit score plummeting and sucking your bank accounts dry. What to do about it? There's plenty, actually.