We all are aware of identity thieves preying on unsuspecting adults and opening new accounts in someone else's name. The statistics for identity theft are alarming. There are several measures in place to help reduce your chances of being a victim of identity theft such as: shopping online at secure websites, don't carry your SSN or birth certificate in your wallet, use a paper shredder to shred personal papers and store financial information in a secure location. You can also use services such as credit monitoring, credit freeze and fraud alerts.
However, a new segment of the population that is a victim of identity theft is children. According to the Federal Trade Commission in 2007, 2% or 1,246 consumers age 19 or under were victims of internet identity theft. In 2007 5% or 11,769 of all identity theft claims were for children ages 18 or under. Those may seem small numbers but complaints for children are increasing every year. If a child is 15 and is a victim of identity theft tries to apply for a credit card at age 18 severe damage would have occurred to their credit history and credit rating would be nearly impossible to catch the identity thief.
Some parents open accounts in their children's name because they have bad credit. Parents please don't do this, you put your child at risk for becoming a victim of identity theft and it also considered fraud to forge someone else's signature.
To protect your child from becoming a victim of identity theft take the following 10 precautions:
1. Don't provide your child's SSN unless absolutely necessary. If you don't feel comfortable providing your child's SSN ask if your child can be assigned an alternate identification number, most companies will oblige, if they refuse, press the issue or take your business elsewhere.
2. Do research by visiting a company's website or calling the company to find out their privacy policy and ask questions such as: how is customer information stored, what happens if customer information is breached, is customer information encrypted, what security measures are in place to ensure employees of the company do not leak customer information and ask why a child's SSN is needed? For government agencies you should feel more at ease providing the information but use cautious when doing business with non-government agencies.
3. Monitor your child's SSN - many times family members are the main culprits who steal a child's identity.
4. Store and lock your child's personal information in a secure location.
5. If you child is a junior, senior, II, or III use your child's full name including the middle name or middle initial to ensure that their name is not confused with a family member's who could potentially have bad credit.
6. If your child starts receiving junk mail visit the DMA Consumers Organization website and click on the Consumers section to have their name removed from junk mail lists.
7. Check your child's credit report from the 3 major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to ensure they have not been a victim of identity theft. If you child is under age 13 you can only get a copy of their credit report by mail as a measure to protect your child's identity.
8. When filling out paperwork for your child that requires providing their SSN or birth certificate don't say their SSN out loud and don't write the SSN down on a piece of paper. Request that the person you are supplying the information to, not repeat your child's SSN or date or birth out loud, i.e. if they are writing down the SSN on a form ask to see the form to see if the SSN was written correctly.
9. Educate your child about shopping online at secure websites.
10. Educate your child about providing their personal information on the internet such as first and last name, age, SSN, address, telephone number, etc. All of this information can be researched and linked to find a child's SSN or address by using phone or SSN matching programs.
Get a copy of your child's credit report at least once a year at www.annualcreditreport.com. Your child (if old enough or you) can also take an identity theft risk test to see if your child is at risk for identity theft at the IDTheftCenter Organization website.
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