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Here are 22 steps to protect yourself from identity theft -- and 8 ways to clean up things if you become a victim.

By MSN Money staff

Thieves may sell your information on the black market or use it to obtain money, credit or even expensive medical procedures. Unless you're vigilant in protecting your records, you'll have to work even harder to repair the damage to your credit. The average victim spends 30 to 40 hours rectifying the problem.

Some of the e-threats to your identity are:

Phishing. You get an e-mail that appears to be from your bank or an online service, most often PayPal or eBay, instructing you to click on a link and provide information to verify your account.

Pharming or spoofing. Hackers redirect a legitimate Web site's traffic to an impostor site, where you'll be asked to provide confidential information. Scammers have been targeting social networking sites, such as Facebook.

Smishing. This is phishing done with text messaging on your smart phone. It instructs you to visit a bogus Web site.Spyware. You've unknowingly downloaded illicit software when you've opened an attachment, clicked on a pop-up or downloaded a song or a game. Criminals can use spyware to record your keystrokes and obtain credit card numbers, bank-account information and passwords when you make purchases or conduct other business online. They also can access confidential information on your hard drive.

You don't need to have a computer to become a victim.

Vishing -- voice phishing. You get an automated phone message asking you to call your bank or credit card company. Even your caller ID is fooled. You call the number and are asked to punch in your account number, PIN or other personal information.

Bank-card "skimming." Crooks use a combination of a fake ATM slot and cameras to record your account information and PIN when you use a cash machine. Your credit or debit card also can be skimmed by a dishonest store or restaurant worker armed with a portable card reader.

Crooks will steal your wallet or go through your mail or trash.

More than half of identity theft cases involve credit card fraud. Checking accounts are the second most popular target. But some crooks have other plans:

At least 250,000 people a year have been victims of medical identity theft for the last several years. Crooks use fraudulently obtained personal information to get expensive medical procedures or dupe insurance companies into paying for procedures that were not done.

The victims of about 5% of reported identity theft cases are children. The fraud often goes undetected for years -- until the young adult applies for credit. Adult children sometimes find themselves facing the betrayal as well as credit woes. And even the dead aren't safe.

Click here to see 22 steps to protect yourself..