ID Theft of Kids

[sil]

This article makes me livid, not just because the obvious problem of identify theft of children, but also because of the contradicting and totally unsatisfactory suggestions for protecting your children from identity theft:

today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42997608/

The article points out how multiple consumer protection agencies do not recommend that you check your childrens' credit reports (or check for the presence of credit reports) until they are at least age 16, because checking for the reports could actually make them more vulnerable to ID theft. Then it suggests that maybe you might want to check for these reports every few years when your child is younger (or of course, whenever you suspect foulplay)

They do provide some good info on how you can identify that there might be a problem with your child's credit history, and resources to validate, but it also says there is really no good way to discover SSN-only ID theft, and if you do determine that someone is wrecking your kids' credit, the only offered solution is to freeze their credit after the damage has already been done.

Has anyone checked to see if their young children have a credit history? What prompted you to do so, and what did you find? If someone did steal their credit, what did you do and who did you sue?

[Deleted]

The problem is that those who would be checking a child's credit (ie, the parents) are the ones most likely stealing the kid's identity.

[nogooddeed]

What Archie said.

[sil]

I agree that parents have the most access to their child's personal information, therefore they are the most likely perpetrators, but there are plenty of other predators out there.

And why can you obtain credit without a crosscheck of birthdate and SSN anyways? If a young child cannot gain credit, and a cross check of the SSN and birthdate shows that a child is only 9 years old, then even malicious parents shouldnt be able to gain credit from their child's identity anyways. If credit is issued to parents using their child's identity, the primary blame obviously goes to the parents, but several entities are culpable and should be held responsible

[Colleenz]

I have not really thought about this, but wouldn't a potential solution be to just freeze the kids credit at birth?

[sil]

One of the posters to the article said that she did exactly that, colleenz. I think she said she paid $30 per child (per credit agency, I believe)

Perhaps a better solution is for all minor's credit to be automatically frozen at birth, by default. Parents should be forced to "opt in" for their minors to gain credit, and even then minors' credit should automatically be flagged/restricted/monitored for suspicious activity until they are 18

[tskeeter]

Perhaps a better solution is for all minor's credit to be automatically frozen at birth, by default. Parents should be forced to "opt in" for their minors to gain credit

,

Maybe I'm just being dense, but my impression is that no credit history of any kind exists on a person until some business reports credit information to a credit reporting agency. At birth, your child doesn't have a SS number (SS numbers are not issued automatically at birth) or any credit history. How can you freeze something that doesn't exist?

Theft of children's identities may be a valid argument for not getting a SS number for a child until they need one for work. The key to a person's credit history is their SS number. If a child doesn't have a SS number, there is no way that credit information can be reported as if it belongs to the child.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Is there any reason why a child's SS# should be used on anything other than a tax form? It is not to be used on health insurance records anymore, so it should not be readily available to be picked up and used.

However, I imagine that >95% of children's identity theft is done by a parent.

[chiver78]

May 12, 2011 11:12:07 GMT -5 tskeeter said:

Perhaps a better solution is for all minor's credit to be automatically frozen at birth, by default. Parents should be forced to "opt in" for their minors to gain credit

,

Maybe I'm just being dense, but my impression is that no credit history of any kind exists on a person until some business reports credit information to a credit reporting agency. At birth, your child doesn't have a SS number (SS numbers are not issued automatically at birth) or any credit history. How can you freeze something that doesn't exist?

no, you're not being dense. your impression about the credit history is correct, but I think you need SS numbers to be able to claim children as dependents on your tax returns nowadays, where you didn't always need them(somebody please correct me if I'm wrong here).

my sis and I are four years apart, and our SS numbers are ridiculously close to each other. Mom applied for both our numbers at the same time, so I didn't have one assigned to me until I was almost 5. I'm thinking it may have been a requirement to register for school, but I could be wrong on that.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I didn't get my SS# until I started applying for colleges and my mom got all of our SS# at the same time, so they're all a couple digits off from each other.

[Colleenz]

I think they changed the SS# issuing procedure (or maybe it was just the hospital I gave birth at?). Someone came in with the SS forms while I was still in the hospital after delivery and we got his SS card a couple of weeks later. We were not given an option.

[973beachbum]

Bingo Chiver. When they changed the requirements of the IRS that all children being clamed on someone's tax returen need to have an SS# I read that millions of dependants just dissappeared.

I agree with the idea of automatically freezing someones credit for the SS number till they turn 18. The problem would be that the person trusted with unfreezing it is also the person most likely to commit the fraud in the first place.

[myrrh]

Both my kids (2.5 y.o. and 4 weeks old) have SS numbers, got the cards within weeks of birth. SS #s are needed to add to my insurance policy as well as to claim as dependents on the taxes.

[myrrh]

haha beachbum, no more furry four-legged dependents (no matter how much they cost!) ;D

[973beachbum]

May 12, 2011 11:42:22 GMT -5 myrrh said:

haha beachbum, no more furry four-legged dependents (no matter how much they cost!) ;D

You know it! I am not sure about the exact number but this is what I found quickly.

"The book "Freakonomics" mentions the day in 1987 when 7 million U.S. children "disappeared." That's because, starting with tax returns filed in 1987, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began requiring taxpayers to list the Social Security Number (SSN) of each dependent child claimed on a tax return. Suddenly, taxpayers claimed 7 million fewer children as tax exemptions"

That is one heck of a huge epidemic to kill off that many kids in one year!

[Clever Username]

I think the 16 year old recommendation is perfect.
ID theft is most simply handled by generating a new SSN.
Of course most of us have work histories and valid credit histories tied to ours, so it's not a rosy option.
But at 16, you have neither.

[973beachbum]

May 12, 2011 12:29:17 GMT -5 Clever Username said:

I think the 16 year old recommendation is perfect.
ID theft is most simply handled by generating a new SSN.
Of course most of us have work histories and valid credit histories tied to ours, so it's not a rosy option.
But at 16, you have neither.

True but aren't most school records tied to an SS number? I know my HS and college transcripts are.

[Clever Username]

May 12, 2011 12:55:44 GMT -5 973beachbum said:

True but aren't most school records tied to an SS number? I know my HS and college transcripts are.

Meh.
Maybe they are, maybe they aren't.
I can convince a school administrator what happened.

Good luck telling social security that they've got a 40 year old error causing them to pay you half your payment.

Good luck convincing a mortgage company that you really have a credit history. You've paid all of your bills ontime and in full.
It's just on a different SSN. Oh and when you look at that SSN, if you see anything bad? That's the other guy.

[Wisconsin Beth]

May 12, 2011 11:39:05 GMT -5 Colleenz said:

I think they changed the SS# issuing procedure (or maybe it was just the hospital I gave birth at?). Someone came in with the SS forms while I was still in the hospital after delivery and we got his SS card a couple of weeks later. We were not given an option.

I needed SS numbers to put DD and DS on my health insurance. And the hospital handed out the paperwork to us while we were there.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I had to have a social security number to put DD on my insurance. They showed up at 1 am at the hospital wanting me to fill out the paperwork.

I had to get her on in 30 days and I didn't actually recieve her number till I came back from maternity leave at 7 weeks! Thank god my work allowed me to put her on without the SSN during that 30 days (I had her birth certificate) otherwise I would have been up at the SS office strangling somebody till they gave me the card.

What a disconnect.

[michelyn8]

no, you're not being dense. your impression about the credit history is correct, but I think you need SS numbers to be able to claim children as dependents on your tax returns nowadays, where you didn't always need them(somebody please correct me if I'm wrong here).

You're correct about the SSN's being required for dependents on tax returns. I think this started about the time I had my youngest. I did the paperwork for her SSN before I left the hospital if I remember right. I don't know if it was required or just a courtesy to allow me to do all the paperwork in one swoop.

[happyscooter]

Apparently you don't have to have a SS # to get into school/college. Look at the illegals who are getting free tuition. While I pay every freaking penny they tell me to.

Did I just say that?

[Deleted]

The author of the book "Freakenomics" has a whole chapter on the massive number of children who disappeared the year the IRS required SS numbers. Made me mad to think that people were getting away with it.

And, to the question about whether SS numbers are required for anything but tax forms- DS signed up for a summer enrichment program when he was about 11 (not part of the regular school, didn't fulfill any requirements) and they asked for an SS # on the form. I made one up.

[TheOtherMe]

When I audited personal returns for the IRS, I disallowed more than one animal from tax returns who were being claimed as dependents. Also their "medical" expenses at the vet.

[chiver78]

May 13, 2011 6:58:23 GMT -5 happyscooter said:

Apparently you don't have to have a SS # to get into school/college. Look at the illegals who are getting free tuition. While I pay every freaking penny they tell me to.

Did I just say that?

none of us ever said that anyone checked to make sure those #'s were valid. most colleges (in my area, anyway) include the student's SS# in their school ID#.

[LlamaLlamaDuck]

When I audited personal returns for the IRS, I disallowed more than one animal from tax returns who were being claimed as dependents. Also their "medical" expenses at the vet.

Lol! Did these "dependents" have names like "Spot" and "Whiskers?"