More than 140,000 children are victims of identity fraud
annually in the United States, according to a study conducted by
risk-management firm IDAnalytics. Children are also targeted approximately 51
more times than adults. Unfortunately these statistics are likely only the tip
of the iceberg, as these are victims that have been made aware that their
identities have been stolen. One of the main reasons why children are such a
viable option for identity thieves is that their Social Security numbers are
'clean' or unused, thereby making it easier to associate a different names and
birthdates with it.
Most times the theft may have been occurring for long periods and not brought to the attention of the child or parent until many years later when the child reaches the age of approximately 17 or 18 years old. Some examples of discovery would be when they are applying for student
loans, an apartment rental, car loan, or even finding their medical records filled with incorrect information.
Children may be found to owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in mortgage loans that have been defaulted on, thousands of dollars in traffic violations, or even a criminal record. Unfortunately
organized crime is not the only culprit associated with this type of theft. Family members have been found guilty of stealing the social security numbers of their nieces/nephews, grandchildren, brothers/sisters and in many cases their sons or daughters.
There are a few ways of protecting your child’s identity and credit--1 and perhaps the single best way is to put a credit freeze on their credit file. By placing a credit freeze with all three major credit bureaus, you maintain control over who can access your child's credit report. The result of this is that you are blocking identity thieves from using your child's name and credit to open fraudulent credit accounts and harming them and their credit profile 2--monitor your own and your child's online usage. Never give out personal information unless you know who it is going to and what it will be used for. 3--obtain a yearly free credit check from freecreditreport.com which is recognized by the Federal Trade Commission. 4--Always shred confidential information before throwing it out. A 'short list' of what to shred would be bank statements, credit card information, and other information containing your birthday or social security number.
At Allstar Secure Shred we strive to stay current with topics that affect our clients. We feel that by helping to keep people informed about these types of crimes, it is a major step to awareness and hopefully prevention of becoming a victim.
