"Make sure you know the company you're dealing with," said Scott Gulbransen, spokesman for Intuit Inc.'s tax division in San Diego. Look for the "TRUSTe certified privacy" icon and "Authorized IRS e-file provider" logos on the e-file provider's Web site.

You don't want to wind up on a bogus tax-filing site or one that does not protect your private information.

Before using the site, look for and verify the "contact us" address and phone number.

On pages where you type in personal information, be sure there is a padlock icon in the locked position, and "https," meaning it's a secure connection, instead of only "http" in the Web address box.

"A lot of identity theft and opportunities for fraud occur with the mail," said Anne Wallace, president of the Identity Theft Assistance Center in Washington.

A tax return or refund sitting in a mailbox at the end of the driveway for hours can be a gimme for thieves, she said.

Consider e-filing if you're getting a refund, she urged. "You get your money faster and it's not at risk for mail theft." Have it deposited directly into your bank account.

Prefer mailing your tax return? The U.S. Postal Service advises mailing it inside the post office or in its big blue postal box.

Get your return off your hard drive, advised Gulbransen. Store the inexpensive-to-purchase USB drive or CD in your safe deposit box. Permanently delete the file from your hard drive using software designed for that purpose.

You might think that, say, music file sharing is innocent. But Mike Prusinski, spokesman for LifeLock, an identity-theft protection company in Tempe, Ariz., was able to pull down tax documents saved on other members' computers all over the world when he downloaded one file-sharing program.

Members have the option of sharing not just music but documents. To demonstrate how easy it was, he typed in "2006 tax forms" and "within one minute" pulled up actual tax documents of members, including Social Security numbers, bank account and routing numbers and other tax information.

"These people have no idea you've been in their computer and pulled this information down," Prusinski said. It was "all based on them doing their taxes at home."

So, think twice about using free music share programs. Prusinski said he would rather spend a little to safely download a song than pay thousands of dollars fighting identity theft.

Your personal computer should have firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed and updated.

Unless you read that long annoying document and click "opt out," the tax provider may use your personal data for marketing or other purposes.

Don't click on e-mails offering to help you process your tax return faster or claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service informing you of a tax refund.

Look out for e-mails soliciting a charitable contribution supposedly from the IRS, or asking you to fill out an online IRS customer satisfaction survey.

Behind all those e-mails are crooks hoping to steal your identity or assets after tricking you out of your personal information. Click delete.

Children are the fastest growing segment of $50 billion identity theft industry, Prusinski said. Contact Iris Taylor at (804) 649-6349 or itaylor@timesdispatch.com.