Identity theft remains the No. 1 fraud complaint at the Federal Trade Commission. In fact, it accounts for about 40 percent of all the complaints they receive. Why? It’s low on the priority list with the authorities and it’s a very difficult crime to investigate. Also, judges tend to look at ID theft as no big deal because no one gets hurt physically. Convicted ID thieves don’t go to jail for very long and they often never get caught. So, in the case of ID theft, the phrase, “Crime doesn’t pay,” doesn’t apply. Yet, it’s so detrimental to the victim. It’s even worse when the unsuspecting innocent victim is hauled off to jail because someone stole his or her identity. What everyone seems to miss is that ID theft is preventable, especially in the more than 20 states that allow “credit freezing.” When you freeze your credit, you get a secret code that allows you to freeze and thaw your credit. So, even if a criminal steals your identity, he can’t do anything if your credit is frozen. About 2 million people can freeze their credit right now, but only about 100,000 have taken advantage of it. Sometimes it costs money and sometimes it’s free. But it’s worth looking into. The states where you can freeze your credit are listed here. The rest of the states are considering starting credit freeze laws, which is good news. Let’s hope more catch on.