Parents Unaware Their Children are the Target of the Number One Crime in America - Identity Theft

Children are increasingly falling victim to the identity theft epidemic (78% increase rate) and families are largely unaware their children have been offended. Children continue to be victimized for years until as a young adult, they are denied services when seeking credit to pay for college or a car loan, applying for a job, or trying to get a drivers’ license. rnAsurency conducted a study of parents with children under the age of 16 and found that out of the 500 families surveyed, none of the families monitored their children’s credit records, to determine if they had been victimized. “Identity theft is exploding and the economy is imploding causing the perfect storm. Child identity theft is a tsunami building under the surface that threatens our children’s future,” states Dianne Cutter, CEO of Asurency, Inc. “Asurency is committed to ensuring our children are safe from this threat by providing free training for families on how to protect their children and significant discounts for child credit monitoring plus full resolution services if the child's identity is stolen(www.asurency.com).” Studies today show there is a victim of identity theft in each classroom with over 400,000 children having their identity stolen each year. Incredibly, these numbers are likely very conservative since parents don’t typically monitor their children’s credit, as shown in the Asurency study. Consequently, thieves have access to a child’s identity for years, largely undeterred. It could be years before we fully understand the impact of the growing incidence of identity theft on our children. If a child’s identity has been misused for years it can be a very difficult and complex task to sort through the quagmire to recover the child’s identity. In the meantime, the young adults are unable to get on with their life and in some cases, even have warrants issued for their arrest. Cutter says parents should practice these top 10 strategies to protect their children against identity theft. 1. Monitor your child’s credit records and make sure they do not have a report building against them. At a minimum, take advantage of the annual free credit report www.annualcreditreport.com. Or to catch issues early, monitor your child’s credit on an ongoing basis. 2. If you have any concerns about your child being a potential victim, contact the credit monitoring agencies, and place a fraud alert on your child’s records (or a security freeze www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/learn_more/003484indiv.html,) The credit agency phone numbers (you only need to contact one) are: TransUnion 800-680-7289, Equifax 800-525-6285, Experian 888-297-2742. 3. If you receive credit card offers, telemarketing calls, or email marketing in your child’s name, this is a red flag to check their credit records. 4. Be stingy about giving out your child’s social security number. Request that an alternative identifier be used or that only the last 4 digits be used. 5. Shred any documentation with your child’s identifying information on it prior to disposing of it. Thieves steal trash to access information. 6. Lock identifying information within your house. People visiting your home including friends, or people you contract to do work at your home could be potential thieves. Studies show that children often fall victim to family members, so it is important to keep files locked. 7. When buying gifts for children (especially over the internet), only use sites you can trust, and limit the information you provide. 8. Check your EOBs (Explanation of Benefits) from your health insurance company to ensure the services received are accurate. Medical Identity Theft is the fastest growing segment of identity theft. 9. Do not put identifying information in your cell phone or on your computer. If you do have this information saved (e.g. tax records on your computer) be sure you use a wipe program prior to disposing of the computer, lock your computer, do not use file sharing services such as music sharing (users can see other information on your computer), follow safe computing practices, and use password protection to access your computer, email, and records. 10. If you have bank accounts in your child’s name, stop having the statements mailed to you; instead access these services online. During this 25th anniversary of The Victims of Crime Act parents need to take action to protect their children’s identity.