Identity theft is a growing problem in America, affecting millions of people and costing victimized individuals and businesses more than $50 billion a year. While businesses and government agencies are working to reduce identity theft, individuals are in the best position to stop these crimes by carefully guarding personal information and carefully reviewing credit card statements and other financial documents.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, which surveyed more than 4,000 Americans in 2003, nearly 10 million Americans were victims of identity theft that year. This cost victims $5 billion and businesses more than $47 billion. Because businesses are both victims and conduits of customer information, which is sometimes stolen, the new head of the New England Small Business Administration, Charles Summers, is already planning forums to discuss combating identity theft.

The problem is less widespread in Maine, but even here, the consequences can be severe. According to the FTC, Maine ranked 48th in the country for the incidence of identity theft with 424 victims in 2004.

The most commonly reported form of identity theft involves the misuse of existing credit cards or credit card numbers. A quarter of the victims surveyed by the FTC said their credit cards were misused after being lost or stolen; 13 percent said information was obtained during a transaction, including purchases made by mail, phone or Internet.

Most victims first learned of the problem by examining account records from banks and credit card companies. The quicker the identity theft was realized, the less damage was done and the quicker the problem was resolved. Still, many victims of identity theft reported problems with obtaining new credit cards, having checks rejected, being turned down for loans, being called by bill collectors or having their utilities cut off.

Despite these serious consequences, many victims of identity theft do not report it to their credit card companies and banks or to the police. Two-thirds of victims over the age of 65 did not report incidents of identity theft to anyone, according to the FTC survey.

While victims of identity theft suggested that local law enforcement agencies should step up their efforts to catch identity thieves and that penalties for these crimes should be stiffer, the best hedges are increased vigilance with personal information. This includes routine review of financial statements and immediate reporting of suspicious transactions. Documents containing personal information should be shredded rather than simply thrown in the trash and personal information should only be divulged on secure Web pages.

If you suspect you are the victim of identity theft, call credit card com-panies and banks to close affected accounts. The FTC then suggests calling one of the nation’s three credit bureaus to place fraud alerts on your accounts, which request that you be contacted before changes are made to your existing accounts or new accounts are opened. You should then report the incident to local police and the FTC, which maintains a database of identity theft cases used by law enforcement agencies for investigations.

When it comes to identity theft, simple precautions can prevent serious problems.