RIP-OFF ALERT: Here's a warning about a fast-growing type of identity theft called third level or third-tier identity theft. The speed and sophistication with which it takes place is shocking.

Let's say you go to a health club or a movie theater -- some place where you will be away from your car for a fairly predictable amount of time. Crooks are targeting these parking lots with the intent of breaking into multiple cars in a short time period.

Once they've snatched purses, a criminal ring will use a "runner" who takes one person's license and another person's checkbook. The runner writes out a check to the licensee and then attempts to cash it using the license as identification.

The really scary thing is that the leaders of these criminal rings have Rolodexes of runners who can bear a physical similarity to just about anybody in a pinch. Many of them are paid in drugs, according to The Washington Post.

Surveillance cameras at the banks won't be of much help. After all, the runner resembles the person in the license who they're claiming to be. When the police eventually look at the license that was used, they go to arrest the wrong person.

There are so many important takeaways in this warning.

First, do not carry your checkbook on your person or in your car. Leave it at home, because if it gets lost or stolen, you're opening yourself to the worst form of economic identify theft.

Second, if you must leave your pocketbook in the car, be sure to lock it in your trunk before you get where you're going. Crooks often watch people with binoculars in a targeted parking lot and will notice if you stash something in the trunk.

Third, go through your wallet or purse and see what you may be carrying that you really don't need. Remove any form of identification that's redundant. Remember, the best protection is prevention.