Many are becoming aware of the crime identity theft and the affect is has on one’s credit and their sense of security. But what about when it happens to a child? Children are often overlooked as targets of identity thieves because of their age. The fact is that credit bureaus do not track the age of the credit applicant, so once a social security number is issued, it can be stolen no matter what the age of the owner. Since parents and guardians do not normally check the credit history of their children, it is not until the child becomes of age to begin needing their credit that a problem is discovered.

An identity theft victim was recently featured in a news story in Austin, because of his age. Zach Friesen was only 7 years old when a stranger began using his social security number. At the age of 17, Zach applies for a job and college loans, only to get the bad news. This was not the first time that someone had applied for credit in his name!

“It wasn’t until I was 17 coming out of high school that I found out about it for the first time,” he says. He has had to spend several years trying to clear his name and he is still affected by this crime.

Linda Foley of the Identity Theft Resource Center says children these days are more vulnerable, “This is the crime of their generation, it’s an information-age crime.”

It is important that parents teach their children to be aware of any suspicious questions online that might expose them to identity thieves. Linda Foley has stated they ask questions such as: ‘What’s your first pet’s name?’, ‘What country were you born in?’, ‘What’s your birthday?.”…all seem to be harmless in nature, but can lead to a serious crime that will take years to clean up. Criminals can use the answers to these questions to obtain a birth certificate, social security number and more.

Zach is now trying to help others be more aware of this crime and the risks involved.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Articles Concerning Identity Theft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.