Do you carry birth certificate and SS with you? Also what clothes?

It's something like 1 out of 3 Americans will have their ID stolen in some way in their life time. 1 out of 3. It already happened to my sister. She got lucky, minimal damage with only a few thousand in unauthorized charges in a few places across the country. She's only in 20s but is a responsible user of credit. It could have been worse.

 

Can of hair spray and a lighter - HTH

 

I have carried my SS card in my wallet for 45 years....I have never lost my wallet, nor had it stolen. There is some risk to carrying your SS card, but I am willing to take that small risk. Your drivers license has more info that a thief would want.....your full name, dob, and your address. You have to carry that. The issue of course is you carry both cards in the same wallet.
I did forget a credit card once at a restaurant, but retrieved it the same day.

Identity theft is done by a thief to get your money......by using your identity to get into your online accounts, which are password protected. How will the thief get your password? It is not in my wallet.
Or the thief will get a loan in your name.....my credit reports are locked. I can’t get any kind of loan or credit card without unlocking my credit reporting accounts, so neither can a thief.

Yes, it is unadvisable to have your SS number on your checks, because every Tom, Dick, and Harry can see it....you don’t want to broadcast the number. Your SS number is no longer used on your medical insurance card for the same reason. You likewise don’t show your SS card to anyone unless there is a valid reason to, such as completing an I-9 form for employment....the SS card is one of the documents used to verify your identity.....even though my card says in red text, “Not for Identification”.

I have had two or three credit card numbers stolen online and used out of state....the credit card fraud unit called me the same day, as the credit card company takes the loss on credit card theft.

It seems online credit card number theft is the preferred method of thieves trying to steal from me.

I would never pay Lifelock one dime, when I already have all my credit locked down. I also will not pay Equifax one dime for anything, as they had a security breech and hackers got info on hundreds of thousands of their customers.....now Equifax offers the sames service as Lifelock.....that’s rich.