Frauding the cradle: Identity theft a growing problem for children

BY THE NUMBERS$21 billion: Estimated cost of all U.S. identity theft incidents in 2012$1.5 million: Amount of fraud perpetrated over a decade against a 19-year-old girl discovered in a 2012 survey by AllClear ID35-51: How many times more likely children are than adults to be identity theft victims$1,727: Average value of fraud in child identity theft cases334: Time in days to detect the average case of child identity theft56: Percentage of child identity theft cases involving a stolen Social Security number27: Percentage of reported child identity theft cases that were perpetrated by a family member or friend44: Average time in hours to resolve cases of child identity theft12: Average time to resolve cases of adult identity theft5: Age in months of the youngest victim discovered in the CyLab reportSources: Javelin Strategy & Research 2013 Identity Fraud Report, AllClear ID Child Identity Theft Report 2012, Carnegie-Mellon CyLab, IdentityTheftAssistance.org, Robert ChappellPREVENTION AND DETECTIONAuthor and child identity theft expert Robert Chappell offers the following suggestions for preventing your child’s identity from being stolen or detecting any problems. Many of these tips also apply to parents.• Never place Social Security numbers on school, medical or insurance forms. Ask if you can substitute the final four digits of the number instead, and find out how any forms you submit will be stored and to whom they will be disclosed.• Keep critical papers bearing personal information at home in a locked container, not in your wallet or purse. If you must dispose of documents with this information, cross-shred (horizontally and vertically) to prevent their reconstruction.• Teach your children — and yourself — to practice discretion on social media and avoid sharing dates of birth or Social Security numbers on your profile.• To provide adequate time to address any errors, visit www.annualcreditreport.com and ask for a free manual search of your child’s credit report about the time they turn 16. A manual search will check for files relating to their name and Social Security number and could detect discrepancies a regular check would miss. Depending on the crediting bureau, this may require parents to submit several identifying documents.• Monitor mail for any increase in or the sudden appearance of credit card offers to your child, especially if you haven’t recently opened a savings account in their name.DAMAGE CONTROLIf your child’s identity is stolen, the process of repairing the damage often can be lengthy and frustrating. Here are the first few steps parents should take immediately to get the ball rolling:1. Keep a detailed journal with contact information for all correspondences you have with creditors, crediting bureaus and other agencies.2. Send a letter to the three nationwide crediting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) requesting they remove accounts, inquiries and collection notices associated with your child’s name and personal information. Include a copy of the Uniform Minor’s Declaration Status (available at consumer.ftc.gov).3. Contact creditors where accounts have been opened and request that they be closed. Follow up that request in writing.4. File an identity theft report with the Federal Trade Commission and print off an identity theft affidavit to gain certain protections and rights with debt collectors or companies and to help file an extended fraud alert on the credit report.5. Take the printed FTC complaint to local law enforcement to generate a police report of the incident. In many cases, this report is required by the crediting bureaus before they will take further action.6. Ask one of the agencies to place a fraud alert on your child’s credit report. That agency will share the request with the other two. Consider requesting a 90-day, renewable credit freeze to prevent further activity on the account.Sources: FTC, various internet sites, Robert Chappell