Protecting Your Kids From Identity Theft

When ABC News recently told the story of Cooper Hayes, a 3-year-old whose very first piece of mail was a letter from a prosecutor informing him that his identity had been stolen, it alerted us all to the growing but often underestimated threat of stealing the identities of kids. Then there's the 12-year-old girl who not only discovered that a bank account had been opened in her name, and in turn used to open credit card accounts, the culprit also declared bankruptcy leaving the girl and her parents with a legal nightmare.

But perhaps the youngest victim was a 3-week-old whose stolen identity was used to purchase prescription drugs, leaving his parents to foot the bill. Commenting in the story, Jay Foley of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a national non-profit organization said "Most of the time, what happens is a child finds out in the worst way. They're applying for a student loan, they're getting ready to go to college and they can't because their information has been already tainted with bad credit."

And that's exactly what happened when a 17-year-old Colorado college student found out how bad his credit when he applied for his first job, only to discover that 10 years earlier someone had stolen his identity and purchased a $40,000 boat. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center around 500,000 kids have their identities stolen every year, and because few kids actually use or check their credit reports or apply for credit, the crime may go undiscovered until it's too late.

Kids Are Great Targets for Many Reasons

• Parents don't always think to protect their kids' Social Security numbers.
• Parents don't think to check if there are credit reports in their kids' names.
• They can be gullible and easily fooled.
• They can be careless with personal information online.
• The theft can go undetected for years, plenty of time for the thief to make a leisurely escape.

So How Can You Protect Your Kids?

• Education is key. Talk to your kids, let them know the dangers, and give them a set of security rules to minimize their vulnerability.
• College-age kids should be warned about the dangers of leaving personal financial information around their dorm or on their computer.
• Watch where your kids go and what they do online so they're not duped into revealing personal information that can be used in an identity theft.
• Think about using parental control software or services to monitor and manage what your kids do online. Software like Cyber Patrol and NetNanny can cost around $40 each, and most ISPs, including MSN, AOL, and Yahoo! offer some form of free parental controls with their services.
• Check that your kids don't have credit reports. If you don't, years may pass before they discover the crime. Some credit monitoring firms now offer affordable family plans that will monitor for credit reports for all family members.
• Make sure your kids' school is not using Social Security numbers as student IDs. Many schools still do.
• If your kids use social networks like MySpace or Facebook, make sure you warn them to be suspicious about any requests, no matter where they come from, for personal or financial information. Theirs or yours!