We ran across an article that gave twelve reasons why consumers are losing the battle against identity theft. We felt the information has merit, so we're sharing it with you…

1. Zero liability has consumers feeling like they have nothing to lose. This comes from a blend of federal law and marketing by financial institutions, which shifts losses to identity theft from consumers to the financial industry. Absorption by the financial community may keep their customers happy, but it has given consumers a false sense of security.

2. Law enforcement lacks the resources to handle ID theft cases. Most police departments will admit that they investigate only roughly less than 1 percent of identity cases. This is mainly due to their lack of resources. 

3. Consumers think the battle's already being won. People have become apathetic to identity theft in the past few years, either because they feel they have little to lose or because they wrongly believe the "enemy" is retreating. This apathy has led to a decrease in vigilance.

4. Organized crime has given identity theft a new energy by pumping millions of dollars into it, and by operating in areas where law enforcement can't or won't reach them. 

5. Financial institutions need to talk with their customers about identity theft, and educate them about it and other security risks. 

6. The small business community is still ignoring its responsibility by not making data and customer protection a priority.

7. Thieves have become bolder because they know they're not likely to be caught.

8 Consumers are not protecting their computers or changing their habits. Most don't check their credit report, don't change their passwords often enough and don't update their computer security often enough.

9. Check verification still has too many loopholes. Although there are sophisticated technologies in place to verify that a check is legitimate, many stores just don't bother using them. Identity thieves know this and have become masters at creating fake but legitimate-looking checks.

10. Many banks are not using all the authentication and verification options available because they think more security challenges will annoy customers. 

11. Consumers are giving away too much personal information on social networking sites. 

12. Businesses and consumers are becoming indifferent to data breaches. There have been so many of them, that consumers are shrugging them off. 

Don't shrug off identity theft. Be vigilant and protect your personal information. You can't afford this kind of apathy.