One cannot be too careful about data that can be acquired by identity thieves.

Talk with anyone who has been a victim of stolen identity and the image of a nightmare emerges immediately. The anxiety is horrible and reaching a resolution can seem endless.

Just last week, the damage done by a massive national identity theft operation was spotlighted. Victims numbered in the thousands and there is no way to guess how many millions of dollars may have been stolen through the venture.

It is bad enough that most of the money lost by the targets of these crooks will never be recovered. Even worse is the sense of fear and frustration felt by the people who were victimized.

Lives are turned upside down and sideways by such criminals. Again, listen to the stories of acquaintances or friends who have suffered and you will be inclined to be far more cautious than you might have been up to now.

Last year, we are told, victims of identity theft registered nearly 90,000 complaints with the federal government. Credit bureaus say the number of alerts from consumers worried about the misuse of personal data have risen more than 35 percent in two years.

Identity theft can lead to denial of credit and all sorts of other invasions of privacy. We are told that many have averaged 175 hours, the equivalent of more than five work weeks, to clear their names and get things back on track. Even then, there continue to be glitches and embarrassment in some cases. “So far, we haven’t seen the end of it,” comments one victim. She has a great deal of company.

Be careful where you allow your credit card numbers, driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers and any other personal data, including medical and prescription records, to be put into play. One woman in Texas tells how a mountain of information about her and her family was obtained by a worker in a hospital while the victim was confined. The worker then passed the data on to someone conversant with using it for profit and it took a long time to get things corrected. The perpetrators still have not been caught.

Shred or destroy personal data that you might be putting out in trash barrels. Be careful about anything you tell strangers in telephone conversations. Keep track of credit cards and check your statements carefully to make sure nobody has intruded on your personal domain.

Businesses need to take more actions to prevent trouble, and governmental units must pass laws and stiffen crackdowns to deal with these criminals. If you have escaped identity of theft so far, take every reasonable step to prevent it.

And whenever your resolve tends to weaken a bit, have a visit with some individual or family which has been violated and terrorized by an identity thief.