Kids Identities: Stolen

Kids Identities: Stolen
by Takara Alexis

Hundreds of online businesses are finding inactive Social Security numbers online - most of which are assigned to children younger than 18 who have not started using them yet - and selling them under different names to assist people in establishing fake credit.

The scheme may lead to significant debts for children that might be near impossible to pay off. The Better Business Bureau is advising parents to be on the lookout for the signs that point to their children's identities being compromised or stolen.

For adults, last year alone, 8.1 million Americans became victims of ID theft, resulting in the loss of $37 billion, according to a 2011 report from Javelin Strategy & Research. While this number is high, NBC TODAY reports that it remains difficult to define how many children are actually affected by identity theft because most cases go undiscovered for years. However, an identity theft monitoring company, Debix, found an alarming 4,000 cases of corrupted identities out of only 40,000 children.

Be knowledgeable of how to obtain your child's credit report. Getting access to your child's records is actually a different process than obtaining your own. Your child's report cannot be acquired using the congressionally mandated free credit report website when children are younger than 13 and even sometimes for children 14 to 18.

Recognize the signs of trouble. Watch out for red flags that display there might be a problem, such as your daughter or son receiving preapproved credit card offers or calls from collection agencies.

Understand what to do if you believe that your child has become victim. According to the Federal Trade Commission, every parent should check his or her child's credit report on the 16th birthday. It's not good to check it too often, but checking then leaves sufficient time to fix errors and activity before the child goes off to college and tries to obtain financial aid. If suspicious activity appears, parents should contact all three credit bureaus and request reports immediately. From there, depending on the state's credit freeze rule, placing a credit freeze should be considered.

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