What I wanted to talk about was an attack that could occur against your kids at any age, one you may not find out about for many years. Child identity theft. Yup, even the kids.

This is a problem that has been growing because it is much easier to get away with for many years, until your child gets close to 18 and tries to establish some type of credit. So it could go on from infant hood to young adult.

I am talking about this whole identity theft crap. Whether it is against kids or adults it is all a result of one thing, that dang social security number.

They make us use it for everything and sadly people are far to loose with our confidential information. Colleges and schools have been hacked and since they require social info that then all becomes compromised. For the longest time here in Texas, UT, had people using their social security as their login id’s. They got hacked and numbers were compromised.

This same thing happens in private and public schools and colleges all over the US. NOT to mention the government and military who are far to lax on their security when it comes to our identity.

There was a case recently where a recruiting office in a mall, had papers they left out in the open near windows that could be looked into from the mall, that had newley signed soldiers personal info including their soc’s and more than enough info to steal their identity. A local news reporter did a story on it.

All this trouble and pain, billions and billions of dollars, all for a friggin number they came up with as a way to facilitate social security a longtime ago.

It is time to say enough is enough. Why should we have to worry about this or pay for someone to try and protect us from this? Adding a pin or eliminating the use of it for anything but social security reasons would be nice. Just think about it, this is a fixable problem so why shouldn’t those who created it fix it?

If not for yourself get mad for your kids. As a crook I could get your babies social security numbers and assume their identities. Basically insuring that your child will start their adult years with a HUGE hassle. I could commit crimes tied to their social security numbers, open lines or credit and so on. All on your little ones’ dime, well at least their credit and their good names. How does that sit in your crawl?

If you are saying “but what about the age difference”? What about it? Do you really think they can check that before they arrest them under your kids name and soc? Do you think banks can check that the age matches the soc? Do you think car lots or online loan sites check that? The answer is hell no! They can’t!

As usual with this issue there is no easy way to protect your child from identity theft but there are some things you can do. You can police the credit agencies (transunion, experian and equifax) yourself. Remember no child or let’s say minor, should have a credit report.

Your credit report starts the day you have your first discovery (someone checks your credit) which should be the first time you apply for some type of loan. So there should be nothing when you run the check on them with all 3 of the agencies.

Don’t pay someone to do it for you, there are many companies who will fleece you for something you could do in just minutes. Remember there should be no report!

This has become enough of a problem that at least experian flags any credit reports that belong to minors, so if someone tries to pass it thru them it should get noticed but the rest have not followed suit yet. This should be law, plain and simple! Since NO child can open a bank account or get a loan or anything else that requires a legal signature there should be no reason to be able to even try and open up credit in their names. It’s that easy.

For minors that become emancipated, they can simply get the court to issue an order to the agencies to unlock their credit status. That covers all bases. No one could ever steal the identity that way. It should be a non issue for kids.

But until things change here are things you can do to try and protect your children (this advice works for you as well):

1. Guard their info like you would you own. Don’t just give it out to anyone that asks.
2. If you open a college fund or bank account for your child, be sure that the bank rep removes then from all affiliate lists and marketing. You don’t want them getting their names and soc’s and running credit reports on them. They do it as dumb as it sounds.
3. If your kid starts getting pre approved credit offers (told you they do it), bills or bank statements other than what you know about, contact:
•TransUnion: Go to its Web site, which gives you information on its Fraud Victim Assistance Department.

•Experian: Go to its Web site, or call toll-free 1-800-311 4769 and select the option for fraud victims.

•Equifax: Write to Equifax Minor Child Department, P.O. Box 105139, Atlanta, Georgia 30348
4. Teach your child not to give out personal information over the phone or Internet or in person (other than to police).
5. Don’t carry your or your child’s Social Security number in your wallet.

Once again for us, stop making us use it so much or find a way to secure it!

If you agree, write your legislators, if enough do it they will listen, they have to. If you don’t agree do it anyway!

Remember to be nice, just state your point the best you can as nice as you can. Don’t want you winding up on some watch list right next to my name hahhahaha I leanred it is best to sleep on it before you write them it turns out nicer that way

The Judge
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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 4:22 pm and is filed under Child Safety, Crime | . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.