When it comes to identity theft, the most successful attack is on the person least likely to be aware of activity being carried out in his or her name. That being the case, it is hard to imagine anyone who better fits the bill than a
When it comes to identity theft, the most successful attack is on the person least likely to be aware of activity being carried out in his or her name. That being the case, it is hard to imagine anyone who better fits the bill than a child.
When it comes to identity theft, the most successful attack is on the person least likely to be aware of activity being carried out in his or her name. That being the case, it is hard to imagine anyone who better fits the bill than a child. From the moment a child’s social security number is first issued, that information becomes a tempting target for thieves.
Why is children’s ID theft different?
Gathering data about the scope of this crime against children is inherently difficult. Quite often, evidence of the crime is discovered only after the victims are in their teens or twenties, which can also make it much more difficult to rectify. However, figures from a variety of surveys would seem to indicate that child’s ID theft is a very prevalent and yet very underreported occurrence. And there is a far higher likelihood of the theft being carried out by people close to the child, even by his or her own family members, than in other age groups. This means that it is less likely that the event will have been reported to law enforcement officials than ID theft carried by strangers.
One might think that this sort of crime would be rare, due to the fact that it would seem obvious that someone under a certain age is unlikely to (say) buy a house or a car, or apply for a credit card or other loan. But apparently an applicant’s age is not something that all credit agencies currently verify. The ostensible ages of the persons applying for credit are established at the moment their credit histories begin: This means that if a thief applies for credit using a child’s Social Security Number (SSN) listing the age as 24, a credit history w