| One of the ways of empowered wealth management is to keep a close eye on your credit report to avoid identity theft and potential subsequent losses. But…have you ever checked your child’s credit report?  It is doubtful that any of us have ever checked our kids credit report as there is not much reason to check a credit report for someone who doesn’t have credit.
That is why kids are such easy targets for identity thieves, says Adam Levin, founder of Identity Theft 911, which provides identity theft remediation services to businesses and consumers. ID thieves know children are an easy target because they likely won’t check their credit reports until they’re adults and need to apply for credit. So they can run up debt for years without being detected. According to Levin, approximately 400,000 children a year are victims of identity theft. They become victims when criminals get their Social Security numbers from medical records, mail tampering, computer searches or a stolen wallet with the child’s card in it. Here is good advice to protecting your child’s identity, not to mention saving yourself a lot of time and money… Protect their Social Security number. Avoid carrying your child’s Social Security card in your wallet. Never give out your child’s number on the phone unless you trust the recipient and never ever send the number in an e-mail. Prior to giving the number to your child, make sure they are old enough to understand its importance. Be careful about posting any information about your child. If you really need to let your Facebook friends or Twitter followers know that it’s your child’s birthday, don’t tell them the child’s age. (It is better not to post it period, not just because of identity theft, but because of child predators.)  ID thieves can use that information to figure out what year the child was born, in addition to the info you already provided about the day and month.  Talk to your children about the importance of protecting their personal information online. The less information you provide online the better, as there is very little privacy and security online. Be careful with the birth certificate. More and more sports teams are asking parents to present a birth certificate for proof of a child’s age. Don’t hand over an original. If the team needs your child’s birth certificate on file, make a copy of it and show it to the coach. Then put it in a sealed envelope and write your name across the flap so it will be broken if the envelope is opened. Let the coach know that you expect to get the envelope back unopened at the end of the season. Check your child’s credit report at least once per year. Here are some signs that your child’s ID may have been compromised in some way; By following these proactive tips, you can minimize the danger to your child both physically and monetarily…empowering their life. |
