Children and Identity Theft
Identity Theft and Your Child
Imagine this...you take your child to the doctor or dentist for a checkup. The clerk gets distracted with something else while your child's records are lying open on the desk. Anyone within view could see your child's social security number and other vital information like address, phone number, and birthdate. That's plenty of info for an identity thief to turn your child into his or her next victim. This is even more frightening when you think how easily a child can have his identity stolen and not know it until years down the road when they are applying for a loan or credit card.
Another sad truth: family members are often the perpetrators of identity crimes against children. The offending adult may have problems with credit or even a criminal history and they see a child's info as a clean slate and an answer to their problems. An illegal immigrant may also use a child's identity as a ticket to a job. So unless it is absolutely necessary to provide your child's SSN, keep it guarded. Only official government records require it, other agencies can use a different identifier if you insist.
An easy way to discover if your child's identity has been stolen is to simply ask for a credit report in your child's name from one of the three credit reporting companies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). Usually a child won't have a history on file, so if one is found, it's likely that fraud has been committed.
 |