Child Identity Theft
Stealing the Identities of Children
To an identity thief, there is nothing better than the profile of a child. They have a clean history that is free of debt, fraud and criminal activities. Even better, nobody will think to check their credit history - after all, they shouldn’t have one! All the thieves will need is the social security number of a child and they can give themselves a new life. To them, it is like they can start over with a crystal clear government record.
Besides the fact that an identity thief can make good use of an identity that is clean, they love a child’s identity because it will be years before anyone finds out that something is wrong. Let’s say that an identity of a newborn was taken when someone stole your mail or because a stranger wrote down the numbers when you were filing your taxes. The thief can have the next 18 years to run free with that identity. In many cases, the thief will have ruined the credit so badly that they will have moved on to a new social security number and identity.
The youth may only find out about their bad credit history when they attempt to buy their first car, open a bank account, sign up for a credit card, or if they attempt to rent an apartment and turn on their utilities. By this time the trail of the identity thief will have long been cold and that teen, new to adulthood, will be starting their adult life with a legal mess that may never be untangled.
Who Commits This Crime?
We want to feel safe, so many of us have a preconceived notion of who can be a bad guy and who is honest. The problem with that logic is that anyone, no matter what profession, can be dishonest. Your child can have their identity stolen when you took them to the doctor or hospital. You also have to give the social security number of your child when you are filing your taxes. It could even be a family member, perhaps a cousin badly in debt and needing to escape it.
The SSN is required if you plan to claim them on your forms. Anyone who has access to those tax papers can simply copy your child’s information and your own. Lawyers have been known to sell the information of their clients, so you can never know who stole the identity of your child or how they did it, especially if many years have past since the first transaction occurred.
A child’s stolen identity may involve parents or other family members. Some adults will not see a problem requesting that their child have a credit card. They will run up the bills in their name but never pay them as they move on to their other children, if they have more than one. Another reason a parent will commit fraud with their child’s name is to turn on utilities. Instead of paying outstanding balances, an adult will simply use the name and social security number of their child or a child that they take care of or are related to.
How Can You Protect Your Child?
To protect your children, you can request free credit checks just to make sure that there are no activities on their records.
If you begin to receive credit card applications for your child, that could be a big clue that someone is using your child’s identity. Their name will be on a marketing list somewhere.
Bills in the mail or telephone calls from creditors is a sure fire way to alert you to misdeeds being done in the name of your children.
If you want to order subscriptions of media or magazines for your child, apply with your name. This will help to keep the name of your kids off of magazine lists that will be sold and resold repeatedly.
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