Are you at risk for identity theft?

Editor's note: This is a transcript of the audio file.

Who you are and what you do can make you more vulnerable to having your identity stolen. Are you in one of the groups at greater risk? I'm Doug Whiteman with your Bankrate.com Personal Finance Minute.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission estimates that nearly 9 million people fall victim to identity theft every year. Experts say that some people become prey more easily than others.

Social media users are a popular mark, because many of us put too much of ourselves out there on Facebook, Twitter and the like. People who pay with credit and debit cards can be at greater risk, particularly if a store or a payments processor is hacked and your card number is stolen. ID thieves also target mobile phone users, partly because they so often fail to use passwords to protect their phones.

Children can be victimized, because the little ones now routinely have Social Security numbers, yet those go unmonitored for years. And executives are a target because they're high-profile and tend to have more credit and more accounts.

For more on protecting your identity, visit Bankrate.com. I'm Doug Whiteman.