In a Market Movers interview, host Alexis Christoforos speaks with security analyst Robert Siciliano about a Javelin Research report revealing that more than one million children were victims of identity theft in the previous year, with about two‑thirds under the age of eight. Siciliano explains the primary drivers: familiar identity theft where family members or acquaintances misuse a child’s Social Security number to open credit lines or utilities, and the systemic issue of children receiving Social Security numbers shortly after birth, leading to their data being stored across medical, school, and insurance databases. He notes that while younger children rarely share their SSNs online, thieves can still harvest the numbers from these records and create fraudulent credit accounts, often claiming the child is an adult. The discussion touches on policy considerations, including the White House’s suggestion to move away from SSNs as primary identifiers, and the limited availability of child credit freezes—only about 30 states permit them, with Equifax being the sole bureau offering a nationwide freeze. Siciliano recommends parents obtain a credit freeze for their children (especially through Equifax), monitor their credit annually, and consider identity‑theft protection services. The interview concludes with these practical tips aimed at helping parents safeguard their children’s identities.
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There are some frightening new numbers out about identity theft and our kids. The research firm Javelin says more than 1 million kids were victims of identity fraud last year. About two-thirds of those kids were under the age of 8. Robert Siciliano is a security analyst with Hotspot Shield. He joins us via Skype. It's great to have you on, Robert.
Thank you so much.
All right, these figures, I got to tell you, as a parent, really disturbing. Why and how is this happening?
So it's a few different things. Um, unfortunately, um, familiar identity theft, essentially when family members or even friends of the family get the child's Social Security number and open up lines of credit under their name, is an actual issue. So for example, you are a single parent and your estranged spouse isn't paying the child support and the electricity goes off. Now you have to use your child's social to turn it back on using their name, their likeness as the new account holder. That's a real problem with as much as a third or more of child identity theft victims.
Oh my gosh, I had no idea. All right, look, our generation, right? We're a little skeptical about giving up a lot of our information online. Although, you know, we've gotten better over the past few years, but the younger generation is growing up in all this. They're conditioned to give out a lot of personal info online. Is that part of the problem here?
So it could be, but you know, when you think about 17 and under, uh, they're unlikely to be providing their Social Security numbers online. What this boils down to is, you know, when we were growing up, you and I, we didn't get our Social until we were like 15, 16, 17 years old. We got our first job, and then things changed in the late '90s when the IRS required Socials for children in order for you to claim them on your taxes. That said, now babies have Socials, you know, prior, you know, prior to them getting a job, generally, you know, within a couple of months after they get out of the hospital. So from that point on, every single insurance company, medical insurance, doctor's office, dentist's office, any schools you provide the Socials to, it's on databases and filing cabinets everywhere. And identity thieves know that they can take that Social and apply for a line of credit under that child's name, and it's not that difficult to establish credit by saying that the child is actually 22 opposed to 2.
You know, even the White House has come out and said, you know what, maybe the Social Security number is not the way we should be identifying who people are. Do you think the days are numbered for using your Social as a form of identity?
Wouldn't that be great news? I don't know if that's actually going to be the way to solve the problem. Ultimately, it's new account fraud that's derived when somebody gets your Social and opens up a new line of credit under your name. Via credit report. I think if credit was frozen across the board for all adults and all children, then I think that that would give us more control over when our credit could be accessed and who can open up a line of credit under our name. Because as it stands right now, unless you have a credit freeze, your credit is available to anybody who has your Social Security number. Now, the other part of it is only about 30 states allow child credit freezes across the board. Only Equifax allows a credit freeze across all 50 states. So you can't even freeze your kid's credit in all states.
All right, give us two quick tips before we let you go. How can we protect our kids online?
Well, number one, if you can get a credit freeze for your children, I suggest that you do that. Definitely do it at Equifax. In the 30 or so states that you can, definitely do that. Other than that, you should make an effort to check your child's credit at least once a year, and they shouldn't even have a credit report. And you might You might have to make an investment and consider identity theft protection to watch your identity and your child's identity.
Robert Siciliano, security analyst with Hotspot Shield, thanks so much. Great advice.
Thank you.
All right, that's going to do it for us here at Market Movers this morning. I'm Alexis Christoforos. Track all the market action all day long at YahooFinance.com. Come back here at 11:45 AM Eastern for Midday Movers. We'll see you then.
