WASHINGTON - There’s some good news and bad news about identity theft.The good news is that last year the number of people victimised decreased 28 percent to 8.1 million, according to a report by Javelin Strategy & Research. Although that’s still a huge number, it’s three million fewer victims than in 2009. The overall dollar losses from identity fraud also fell last year to $37 billion from $56 billion in 2009.Using stolen Social Security numbers or credit cards and other financial information, identity thieves, among other crimes, buy cars, get cell phones and open new credit card accounts.For eight years, Javelin has been tracking identity theft trends, helping to keep a national focus on this category of crime. Last year, the plummet in identity theft was the largest annual decrease since Javelin started tracking it in 2003.So what’s different?For one, there has been a significant drop in data breaches or situations where batches of people’s personal information has been compromised, which could lead to identity theft, or specifically stolen by identity thieves. The number of data breaches last year was down by almost one-third to 407 incidents, or 26 million records exposed, according to datalossdb.org. Again, still a huge number but at least it’s down from 604 breaches, or 221 million records exposed, in 2009.“We definitely see evidence that the banks and other institutions are taking stronger precautions to prevent data breaches,” said James Van Dyke, president and founder of Javelin. “Data breaches are a big deal. You are eight times more likely to be a victim of fraud if you get a data breach notice.”Identity theft is also down because consumer education efforts may be paying off, Van Dyke said.Shadowing the good news in the Javelin report were two things.The average out-of-pocket expense for victims increased 63 percent from $387 in 2009 to $631 per incident in 2010.Generally, consumers are not held liable for fraudulent debts, but many victims still end up having to shell out money to clear their name. Van Dyke said some consumers, who get tired of the creditor calls, just pay off the fraudulent debt. Others end up with legal fees. A victim of criminal identity theft may have to hire an attorney because he or she has been mistakenly arrested or has a warrant for their arrest because a crook committed a crime and tried to pass himself or herself off to law enforcement officials using the person’s identity.Javelin also found that “friendly fraud” grew 7 percent. Friendly fraud is the term for identity theft committed by someone known to the victim. People ages 25 to 34 are most likely to be victims of this type of fraud.If you want to decrease your chances of becoming a victim of identity theft, follow these tips from Javelin:l Protect your personal data. Shred documents that contain personal and financial information. I know you’ve heard it before, but one slip and your data are compromised. My husband and I nearly slipped recently. I was going through the recycling bin to double-check that we hadn’t tossed any revealing paperwork. To my dismay, my husband had accidentally dropped in several old chequebooks. It was the kind where you have duplicate copies of your cheques. For added security, the duplicates don’t reveal our name, address or bank account number, but at the back of a couple of the books were a few unused deposit slips that did contain our names, address and full account number.l Don’t share so much on social networks. People using social networking for five or more years are twice as likely as those newer to these sites to suffer identity fraud.l Monitor your bank and credit card accounts more than once a month. Javelin found that 48 percent of all reported identity fraud cases were caught first by consumers.l Pay attention to official notices that your personal information has been lost or stolen. If you get such a letter, regularly monitor your credit reports or any affected accounts. Take advantage of free credit monitoring if it’s offered.“A lot of individuals will get a data breach notice and do absolutely nothing,” Van Dyke said. “They feel the letter itself is an indication that someone is looking out for them.”Identity theft is a crime that may not seem so serious until it happens to you and your life becomes filled with frustration for days and weeks as you try to persuade creditors or even law enforcement officials that you’ve been a victim.Readers can write to Michelle Singletary c/o The Washington Post, 1150 15th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20071. Her e-mail address is singletarym@washpost.com. Comments and questions are welcome, but due to the volume of mail, personal responses may not be possible. Please also note comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer’s name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated.