Protect Child From ID Theft www.IDTheftSecurity.com

18 Feb 2007 · 1 min

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This content was created by Robert Siciliano. This content was uploaded by Robert Siciliano. This is a YouTube video titled "Protect Child From ID Theft www.IDTheftSecurity.com" (uploaded February 18, 2007). The excerpt is an English dialogue between two speakers — likely a host/interviewer (SPEAKER A) and an identity security expert (SPEAKER B) — discussing child identity theft. They describe how thieves use children’s clean credit records to open accounts, note that victims often discover the theft years later, and offer protective advice such as checking bank and credit statements regularly, not giving a child’s Social Security number over the phone, and (per the expert) applying for credit under the child’s name while stating the real age to help prevent misuse.

Well, it's happening more and more. Young children, not even old enough to drive, finding their identities have been stolen. Investigators say thieves find ways to steal those spotless credit records of young children and rack up massive amounts of debt. Some children don't even find out they've been robbed until many years later when they apply for their first job or try to get a school loan. So how do you protect your child? Well, we talked to an expert on identity security for help.
The best way to protect your child from child identity theft really is to apply for credit under their name and state their real age. See, what happens is when an identity thief compromises your child's Social Security number, they apply for credit under that child's name. If the child is 4 years old, they're going to fill out the application saying that the child is 24 years old, and the credit bureau doesn't know how old the child actually is.
Here's another good piece of advice: always check your bank and credit card statements for anything that looks unusual, and never give out your child's Social Security number over the phone, of course.