Liz Moyer with Tatyana Shumsky 03.06.08, 6:00 PM ET
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When you think about identity theft, you don’t typically think about protecting your kids. Maybe you should.
While adults in their spending years–30s and 40s–are typically the targets, a growing number of victims tracked by the Federal Trade Commission are under the age of 18–some 5% of the total. That’s up from 3% just a few years ago. More than half are under the age of 6.
The reason is simple: It’s practically the perfect crime. All anyone needs is a Social Security number to get started opening new accounts, and parents usually apply for the number when their child is born. Usually the thief is a family member or another adult who spends time in the home, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center.
Child identity theft is especially pernicious because it can go undetected for years, unearthed only when the victim goes for a driver’s license or a student loan, only to be turned down. By then the crime trail is cold, and the thief has likely long abandoned the accounts after maxing them out.
“Consumers who have been victims of identity theft as a child will face great difficulties when attempting to establish credit later in life,” according to information on the Web site of Experian, one of the big three credit-reporting firms.
One of the problems is the lack of cross checking among the various credit reporting agencies and credit issuers about the age of the person seeking credit. So, using any birthday, a child’s stolen Social Security number can be used to take out credit, giving the thief instant credibility.
The age put down on the application becomes the official credit report age and sticks on the credit report unless a dispute is filed and proved.
“The information on the application is typically taken at face value,” writes Linda Foley, founder of the San Diego-based center. “This is a fault within our system that needs to be rectified.”
Consumer advocates also advise parents to closely monitor kids’ use of Web sites and chat rooms, which may ask for personal information on the registration screen, and to educate children about keeping personal information private. If parents start getting a lot of card solicitations in the mail in their child’s name, that is cause for alarm. As if parents didn’t have enough to worry about.
Overall, complaints about identity theft rose 5% in 2007, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The average victim wound up shouldering $691 in costs because of it, up from $554 the previous year. Federal law enforcement efforts to clamp down couldn’t keep thieves from getting away with $45 billion last year.
