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ID theft now targets the very young

admin • Sep 30, 2013

Editor’s note: The text of this column ran in the last issue of Local iQ with the wrong column signature and tagline.

As we all know, ID theft in this country has gotten out of control. Identification thieves use personal information they steal to acquire credit or to commit crimes in someone else’s name. That this causes many Americans great financial distress, and expenses goes without saying.

You know this has gone too far when ID theft is committed against our children. Two recent cases of ID theft involved the perpetrators acquiring a child’s Social security number. In the first case, the child’s information was stolen when from the middle school he went to. By the time he turned 19 and went to start his credit journey, his credit was destroyed because credit cards and even two homes were brought to his name, all while he was under the age of 18.

In another case a child was named after his father, and his father turned around and used his social security number to acquire many levels of credit. By the time the young man turned 19 years of age, his credit was also ruined. Furthermore because he did not file a police report against his father, I had to send the 19 year old kid to file bankruptcy.

This is the reason a child’s social security number is the most sought-after. The person committing the ID theft now has an 18 year window to use the child’s Social security number. Slick, yes, but it is happening.

Measures you can take to protect your children include, first, being very selective about who you release your child’s Social security number to. If you have to give out your child’s Social security number, question the person you give it to. Ask them how safe your child’s personal information will be, and be sure to get the name of the person the information will be given to

Secondly, pull your child’s credit report every one to three years to make sure the report is clear. If it is clear it should come back as no record found. This will indicate the credit report has not been compromised.

If your child’s personal information has been compromised, I recommend monitoring with Life Lock. Just go to LifeLock.com
We at Credit Rescue Now provide free credit education workshops on the second Saturday of each month from 11a to 1pm. learn more about credit and how it works, and also learn how to protect your child’s personal information. And until next time, good credit to you.

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