Identity theft Monitoring

   You may already know that identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States, but you probably don’t realize that the fastest growing segment of identity theft is children.

   The FTC reports that 5% of the 255,000 victims of identity theft in 2005 where under the age of 18 which is up 40% from 3% in 2003. Most of these cases take place very early on with over half occurring prior to the age of 6 according to the Identity Theft resource Center.

  Awareness seems to be the biggest problem in helping to prevent child id theft.  A recent Experian-Gallup poll found that 68% of respondents had heard little or nothing about identity theft crimes against children.

  But, that doesn’t mean that children aren’t falling victim to identity thieves at a rapid rate.  That same poll found that 7% of respondents knew a child that had been victimized by identity theft.

  Identity theft perpetrated against children can be particularly debilitating because it is often years or decades after the crime occurs that the victim becomes aware.

  There are hundreds of stories of adults that attempt to apply for their first line of credit only to find that their identity had been stolen years earlier while they were underage and, as a result, their credit was destroyed before they even had a chance start practicing healthy credit habits.

   Unfortunately, identity theft crimes against children can be hard to track because children don’t apply for credit or review a credit report to identify suspicious activity. That being said, there are steps that parents can take to lower the risk of their kids becoming victims of identity theft.

   First, keep social security cards out of your kid’s hands. In fact, no one in your family at any age should be carrying a social security card. We recommend that you keep all of your family’s sensitive documents in a home safe, safety deposit box or at least a locked filing cabinet.

   Next, keep a look out for any suspicious mail that arrives at your house in your child’s name. If credit card offers, late payment notices or other suspicious items show up, don’t assume they are mistakes. Follow up with the company that sent them to determine the reason they were sent in the first place.

   Finally, your entire family should be protected by a proactive identity theft prevention service.  These services, such as LifeLock , will monitor activity on your credit report and help prevent identity thieves from making victims of you or your children.

   Another common activity of identity theft criminals is to commit utilities fraud with your personal information. A thief may open up new phone, electric, gas, or other utility service account using your information.

   This scheme can extend into accounts for cell phones, cable TV, sewer and water, and some criminals have been known to even rent apartments, all in your name, and like bank fraud, the smart criminals will have all bills and statements sent to a different address so you will not be aware of any suspicious activity until after the damage is already done.

   This crime be sometimes have less negative impact on the victim because if the criminal is obtaining monthly services using your name, they may very well wish to keep these services active and will actually pay the bills. But if they dont pay or stop paying later on, then it again goes against your credit history and can affect your ability to obtain and maintain these necessary services.

   A more serious type of identity theft activity is government documentation fraud where a criminal can use your personal information for many different purposes. They may get a drivers license or state ID with your information and their picture.

   One common practice of identity theft is the usage of someone elses Social Security number for employment purposes. While this practice does happen with people who are on the run from the law or wish to stay hidden for some other reason, it is more likely that an illegal immigrant without a Social Security number of their own will commit this crime.

   The Social Security administration is not well equipped to detect this type of problem and it may go on for years unless the IRS notices some abnormality at tax time. Another problem that often arises is when the person using your Social Security number files for unemployment.

  There was a case several years ago at a small company where an employee, unknown to the employer, was an illegal immigrant and was using somebody elses Social Security number.

   This employee was put on a two week temporary layoff and filed for unemployment with the false Social Security number that they had been using for years. By a matter of chance, the legal owner of the Social Security number filed for unemployment benefits the very same week which created a red flag for the Social Security administration department.

   Possibly the most frightening type of fraud is where a person who has access to your person identity information gets arrested for some reason and supplies the authorities with your information. If they do immediate jail time, the worst that will happen is that you will develop a criminal history but if they are required to return for a court trial at a later date, you may encounter some real problems.

   The fact that they are already a criminal who has stolen your identity means that they are unlikely to bother showing up for their court appointment and a warrant will be issued in your name. Something as simple as a traffic violation can land you in jail, wondering just what is going on.

   After learning what an identity theft criminal can do with your information, you should now realize that it is important to take necessary steps to protect yourself. Instead of taking the chance of becoming a victim, you would be much better off to take some proactive steps to eliminate or reduce your risk of identity theft.