be careful with thieves, even on internet!

Identity theft occurs when one person intentionally assumes another person's identity. Identity theft comes in many fashions from in person, to mail, to now the blooming of Internet theft. Thus far, identity thieves have typically gone on shopping sprees at the expense of their victims, but the possibilities for abuse through identity theft will grow as the functionality of the Internet expands. With the Internet, the key goal is to gather information. Some ways to gain information is from credit banks and trying to steal credit card numbers and passwords. Another way of theft is through Internet shops that store credit card numbers for the one step shopping. Another way thieves deceive individuals is to have the victims store his/her credit information on the fraudulent site.
The lowest form of theft is through asking children for key information about their parents (where do you live, what are your parents' names, how long have you lived at that house, what are your grandparents' names, etc.). Through e-mail or chat rooms, unsuspecting children could give away their parents key information - maybe even their credit card numbers. There are many ways that the thieves can get their information - but how are the victims giving it to them unsuspectingly?
One common aspect with all on-line businesses is personal information stored for use of repeat shoppers. The storage of information can save histories of their purchases and can eliminate steps of entering data each time the customer comes back to the site. The hackers look for loopholes in different ISPs to gain necessary information they are looking for. Internet sites not only leave information available each time someone visits a site, but they also sell this information to whoever will buy it.
Here is a list of items that are common among web sites:
web sites may freely gather as much personal data as desirable from consumers.
web sites need not ask permission to gather personal data.
web sites need not inform consumers of their data gathering practices.
web sites may use personal data in any manner they prefer, such as selling or licensing it to third parties.
web sites need not allow consumers access to their data.
web sites need not provide security for personal data in their possession

Protecting your self on-line has become such a key issue that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has made a web site available with tips on how to protect yourself. Such issues as how you pay for items on-line, what to look for on web sites, and how to determine if web sites are safe to browse are common issues addressed. Each of these issues separate may seem simple and trivial, but ignoring these issues collectively might leave one's credit open for the taking

As far as i am concerned, i try to protect myself by using logiciels of protection. I also pay very attention when i make transactions on internet. I only use paypal on protected websites.
At this moment, i still had no problems with identity theft.