When identity theft is a possibility, I recommend freezing credit bureau accounts immediately. Here’s how:

Freezing Your Credit Report at Each Credit Bureau

(Visit each credit bureau’s site to get more information about placing a security freeze on your credit report.)

Equifax: Freeze Your Equifax Credit Report, 1-800-685-1111 (NY residents 1-800-349-9960)

Experian: Freeze Your Experian Credit Report, 1-888-397-3742

TransUnion: Freeze Your TransUnion Credit Report, 1-888-909-8872

I’ve done this for myself and another. It was a fairly simple process. Each company has an automated system by phone. It only took about 15 minutes to do them all and cost nothing.
 
It’s very important to keep the resulting correspondence, which will include numbers needed to lift the freeze with each credit bureau.
 
When the bad guys can’t get the credit report needed for most new accounts, loans, etc., their efforts will become burdensome and they’ll move on to someone else.
 
Freezing credit is especially wise for the elderly, since they are not as likely to need new accounts, loans, etc., and they are more likely to be victims of identity theft.