Identity theftNew identity theft scheme: stealing kids' Social Security numbers
The latest identity theft scheme: stealing kids’ Social Security numbers years before these kids grow up to use these numbers; the scheme allows people to establish phony credit and run up huge debts — debts that the kids may never be able to pay off
Because of child identity theft, children may start there lives with debt that they will never repay // Source: freerepublic.com
A new identity theft scheme could be targeting your kids’ Social Security numbers and setting them up with bad credit — before they even open their first bank account. According to the Associated Press, online businesses are using computers to find dormant Social Security numbers, usually those assigned to children who have never used them, and then selling those numbers to people.
The scheme allows people to establish phony credit and run up huge debts — debts that the kids may never be able to pay off.
Sellers get around the law by not referring directly to Social Security numbers. Instead, they refer to CPNs, which are credit profile, credit protection, or credit privacy numbers. Creating a false credit score using those numbers is easy, according to Julia Jensen, an FBI agent in Kansas City. “The back door is wide open,” she said. “We’re trying to get lenders to understand the risks.”
ABC Action News reports that the only present way to check on whether your child’s identity has been compromised is by checking with the credit bureaus to see whether there is a credit file associated with your child’s Social Security number.
Experts say that fraud involving dormant Social Security numbers is difficult to detect because it is “an invisible crime, with invisible victims who don’t have enough support out there to help them.”
