It may be hard to wrap your mind around the nearly $50 billion experts say identity theft cost Americans in 2007. Until it happens to you . . . and you find yourself losing thousands of dollars and as much as 40 hours of your life trying to rectify matters.

While identity theft still happens in traditional ways - unshredded financial documents pilfered from the trash or checks stolen from the mailbox - ID thieves know the big bucks come from online avenues. Criminals are increasingly using high-tech tools to steal identities online, including spyware, adware, malware, viruses and phishing.(Read more)