A Child's Identity Can Be Stolen Too

The other night I had an interesting conversation about identity theft with some friends.  As usual, they expressed their concern about protecting their identity and described everything they do to protect it.  To protect their identity they do the usual stuff like shredding all of their documents with personally identifiable information, not carry their social security card in their wallet, and use a firewall, anti-virus, and spyware protection to protect their home computer.  The measures they implement are great methods to lessen their chances of identity theft, however, something else of interest came out of the conversation.  My one friend wanted to know what he could do to protect his children’s identity.  I had to be honest with him so I told him I never thought about that.  In the end, I told him to implement the same measures for them as he does for himself.

I don’t think my recommendation to him was that far off, but it got me thinking about scams directed at children.  The whole thing compelled me to do a little research on in it.  What I found out was that child identify theft occurs once out of every twelve incidents (Another Ally Joins Battle Against ID Theft, retrieved 23 June 2014).  The scary part about the whole thing is the occurrence of child identity theft is continuing to increase.

So why would someone want to steal a child’s identity?  Well, a child does not have a tarnished credit record.  More than likely they do not even have a credit record.  Thus, they have a clean credit history and a credit lender may be more willing to open an account on someone that does not have a credit history versus someone that has a bad credit history (Bortz, 2013, Identity Theft: Why Your Child May Be in Danger).  Another reason children are a more attractive target to identity thieves is the chances of their malicious activity being discovered is far less than it would be if they stole an adult’s identity.  In all actuality, a child may not know their identity has been stolen until they are well into their teens and apply for a car loan or some other type of credit.

Now that all of you with children are probably a little concerned about the security of your child or children’s identity, you will be happy to know that protecting their identity is not all that hard.  You basically protect their identity the same way as you would your own.  To protect their identity you should consider adhering to the following security measures:

• Reframe from carrying anything containing their personal information in your wallet or purse.

• Properly destroy any paperwork containing their personally identifiable information on it that is no longer need.

• Order free credit report and examine it for suspicious activity

When their old enough to understand, talk them about protecting their personal information and let them know it is okay to not provide their personal information (i.e. date of birth and social security number) to someone when prompted to.

It is evident that no one is safe from scams designed to steal a person’s identity.  Scammers will do anything they can think of to achieve their goal even if it means stealing a child’s identity.  Therefore, use the recommendations about to protect your identity and if you have children, to protect their identity.

References

Another ally joins battle against ID theft. (n.d.). Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://www.scambusters.org/idtheft.html

Bortz, D. (2013, February 5). Identity theft: Why your child may be in danger. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2013/02/05/identity-theft-why-your-child-may-be-in-danger