(Forbes.com)Holiday time is identity theft time.

That's according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nine-year-old nonprofit in San Diego that helps counsel victims through the recovery process.

The Center says it gets more calls about lost and stolen wallets between November and January than at any other time of the year because holiday crowds and distracted shoppers are big targets for thieves.

Identity theft costs individuals and businesses $52 billion US a year in the United States alone, according to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. And the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates there are 10 million victims out there who spent an average of 600 hours and $8,000 to recover their stolen identities.

The best way to avoid it, according to tips the Center publishes every year, is to keep as much personal information out of public reach as possible.

Social Security cards (Social Insurance Number cards in Canada) and documents containing financial and personal information should be left at home in a locked location, for example. Billing statements, old tax returns and other documents should be shredded before being discarded. Monthly transactions should be done electronically as much as possible and many banks offer bill paying services. This reduces the amount of paper floating around the world with personal information on it.

Be on the ball at the mall

Consumers should be aware of their surroundings when they venture to the mall, as well.

In recent years, crimes related to shoulder surfing and card skimming have risen, according to consumer advocates. Shoulder surfing happens around automated teller machines or near checkout lines. It simply means peering over someone's shoulder as he or she enters a personal identificat number (PIN) or other information or surreptitiously taking a photo of a card, driver's licence or check to be counterfeited later.

Card skimming happens when an unscrupulous clerk swipes a customer's card through the legitimate payment machine and then secretly swipes it again through a second reader designed to record the card's account information from its magnetic stripe. Using that information, fake cards can be created.

Shoulder surfing and skimming can target both debit and credit cards, but credit card users might have an advantage in the safety department, according to the Center. They often have stronger fraud protection programs, for starters. Debit cards are convenient, but because they link directly to a checking account and often don't require the entry of a PIN code to make a purchase, a thief using a stolen one can quickly empty a bank account before any problem is detected.

One solution is to designate a small checking account to anchor a debit card and not have those related to a primary checking or savings account.

Keeping close watch on bank and card account activity can be a useful foil for thieves. Many banks now offer free e-mail alerts for routine account activity and accounts can be checked online. Frequent views of account activity ensure that any fraud can be picked up as quickly as possible.

Those free e-mail alerts shouldn't be confused with a new crop of scams hitting the Internet. Phony bank e-mails have tripped up a number of people, and the Center warns against opening any links sent by suspicious-looking e-mails. A legitimate bank would contact customers by mail if there is a problem with their account and wouldn't ask a customer to verify personal information by e-mail.