Just saw a story about how the San Francisco Police Department received a very realistic looking check from a Canadian company and addressed to one Inspector Harry Callahan. You’d be amazed how many people still fall for this scam that has been around for years – someone you’ve never heard of sends you a check out of the blue with an elaborate story – possibly a businessman opening a new office in your country or you’ve just won the lottery.

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Anyone who’s read any of my columns on identity theft knows I don’t like LifeLock, the identity theft solution that offers to put a freeze on your credit report for more than $100 a year.

But every day I get more questions about LifeLock, often triggered by their extensive advertising that includes the CEO of the company broadcasting his Social Security for everyone to see.

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I guess one of the reasons that identity theft is still the nation’s fastest-growing crime is that it can happen anywhere, even when you’re traveling. All it takes is a creative identity thief and a careless traveler.

And many times, the travelers don’t even need to be that careless. You may have read about a series of identity thefts in Illinois late last year when employees, managers and even the owners of several well-known hotels were charged with identity fraud. In a scheme designed to steal guest identities using their registration and payment information, multiple arrests were made.

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is out with yet another survey on the prevalence of identity theft in the US, and once more it troubles me.

I think that every good study of identity theft helps, because while many of them differ widely in their methods and results, we seem to learn something new from each one. But some of the lessons might be misleading.

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