Just make it impossible to get credit without any purpose. + Getting a mortgage as an identity thief? Fine. Easy to pay him a visit. + Getting a car? No. That

Just make it impossible to get credit without any purpose. + Getting a mortgage as an identity thief? Fine. Easy to pay him a visit. + Getting a car? No. That's dumb. You can buy a car if you have the money. + Getting a bank account? Fine. Just force banks to disallow people to go below zero for several years (or forever). Replace all credit cards by debit cards. That's basically the situation in the Netherlands for most part. Identity still gets stolen, but the impact is minimal.