There are many different identity theft shield websites that promote watchdog services over individuals' credit scores. Identity theft is a growing issue due to the availability of personal information through online sites and phishing that criminals will use today to steal someone's identity. There are many ways that individuals can choose to help protect their information, and agencies that help to stop identity theft say that awareness is a huge part of solving the problem. These agencies say that individuals should be very careful about destroying documents that have personal information on them. Instead of just throwing these bills and other statements away, they should be shredded into little pieces so that people who will dig through garbage for this information will not be able to find anything useful without a lot of trouble. In addition, Social Security cards should be placed in a safe place so that they are not carried in a wallet or purse where they could be easily stolen. If there are roommates in the home, personal information should be kept in a locked place such as a file cabinet or safe. Protection Services There are identity protection services that are also available, and identity theft shield reviews are mixed about the validity of these services. Identity theft shield reviews say that these services cost a minimal amount of money per month in most cases, usually between seven and fifteen dollars per month. This is very affordable and could be well worth the money if fraudulent activity is reported as soon as it occurs. According to identity theft shield reviews, these services are supposed to be monitoring all three credit reporting agencies twenty-four hours per day to see if there is any fraudulent activity occurring. Individuals who have bought the services are supposed to be notified immediately if there is any credit opened on the account, whether it is a loan, a new credit card, or an inquiry about credit. Identity theft shield reviews state that some services are not worth the money, since individuals who were paying for the services opened credit cards or got loans for cars or homes and the identity theft shield services said that there was not any activity on their account. This is very discouraging to these conscientious individuals who are concerned about protecting their credit. The identity theft shield reviews also state that some of these services also did not help much or any with the legal side of rectifying fraudulent activity, even though that was part of what they claimed their services were.