In recent days and months, there have been numerous cases of identity
theft. These cases have been discovered during times of marriage
applications and other enormous financial investments. What is not so
obvious to the consumer public is that children have credit and are also victims of identity theft.
This situation became real in the life of Olivia McNamara, a freshman at Vanderbilt University who applied for a credit card in order to start her journey as a young adult. Unfortunately, she was declined—twice. Finally, her instincts kicked in and she decided to do some researching on her own to find out the problem with her credit. The result? Someone had stolen her identity and credit when she was 9 years old and racked up $1.5 million in debt. The credit thief also created 42 accounts with her identity.
Olivia is not alone. Eleven-year-old Brianna and eight-year-old Bradley have also been victims of identity theft. Their theft debts now total more than $150,000. Bradley’s account contained two student loans—a blow to whatever possible money he could have had for college. Just this week, ten-year old Makena Rung of Lincoln, Nebraska was the victim of identity theft when Yeni Pena used her social security number to work at a restaurant called the Baja Grill in Omaha, Nebraska. The Rung family reported in October 2011 that their vehicle had been broken into. Someone stole a purse containing personal documents—documents that ended up in Peni’s hands. Peni is currently in the Douglas County Corrections Center under a $25,000 bond and immigration delay. It appears that she was an illegal alien who used a ten-year-old’s social security number to get a job in this country. She knew that illegal aliens without social security numbers could not.
Derek Jones’ seven-year-old son was the victim of child identity theft last month in Reidsville, North Carolina. He and his wife are divorced, but both claim their two children in alternating years. This year, Derek was supposed to claim his son; he was told by his accountant that he could not file under his son’s name. The reason? Someone else filed with his son’s name, social security number, and birth date. The thieves may have received a lump sum of money from their tax return and purchased numerous possessions by way of his son’s personal information. Additionally, they took Jones’s $4,000 child tax credit that he was to receive this year as well.
According to Olivia McNamara, credit thieves purchased houses, boats, and cars with her $1.5 million debt. Apparently, the shocking news in all of this is that children do have credit—a conception that parents will forever be forced to wrap their minds around. It has always been assumed that children had no credit, which is why many apply for credit at 18 years old. Now, child credit identity theft is overturning prior assumptions about child credit.
According to studies done on child identity, 1 in 10 children each year are victims of child identity theft. Often, the corruption persists for years, with parents oblivious to what could be going on with their child’s credit score and/or report. The technological age has eased the process by which computer hackers can access children’s social security numbers. Hospital computers and files, as well as home computers and school computer records have all been targets of what experts say is a growing crime niche in the United States.
In another case this week, the search engine giant Google blocked a CareFusion, Inc. website after it was found to contain 48 Trojan Horse programs. The site was renown for updating software in various medical devices. Consequently, viruses were being downloaded to hospital files without hospital consent. The infected software was discovered by Kevin Fu, a UMass security researcher who noticed it when downloading updates for AVEA ventilators.
In light of the growing child identity theft in this country, parents must do what they can to protect not only themselves, but also their children. One source of child ID theft you may not think about is relatives and friends. Family members are not always trustworthy, and just because they are close to you does not mean they will not steal and deceive in order to get what they want. The statistics bear this truth: Forbes magazine found that thirty percent of all new child ID cases involve friends and relatives. One excellent way to protect your child’s identity is to place your child’s medical, school, and hospital records in a safe place that is not easily accessible to house guests. You should not leave child documents lying around the house, even if close relatives are coming to visit. It is better to be safe than sorry.
Another precaution that parents can take to protect their child’s credit is to check your child’s credit report and credit score frequently—even if your child is too young to apply for a credit card or student loan. Had Olivia McNamara’s parents thought to keep tabs on her credit report and score while she was younger, she may have avoided the $1.5 million debt price tag she now has to spend years escaping. There are a few ways to check on your child’s credit score and report. One way is to draw your child’s credit report once every four months. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 entitles each American to one free credit report every four months. Ninety-six percent of consumers do not take advantage of their free credit reports each year—a small act that may save your credit from ID theft in the near and distant future.
Credit freezes are another major effort consumers can employ to protect their child’s credit. Place a credit freeze on your child’s account, which will prevent thieves from accessing your child’s credit report and score. If thieves cannot see that your child’s credit is squeaky clean (and they also know that they cannot pull your child’s credit report), your child will not be subject to student loans and credit cards that they do not know about until adulthood.
Most Americans opt for another plan, that of credit monitoring. Credit monitoring allows a credit monitoring agency to watch your credit report and provide email and mail updates regarding any changes that take place on the account during the month or week. Consumer credit experts recommend that you pay for a credit monitoring service that will watch all three credit reports from the three major consumer credit agencies: TransUnion, EquiFax, and Experian. You will have to pay $15-$20 a month for excellent credit monitoring services, but $15-$20 a month over 18 years amounts to much less than what ID thieves could amass on your child’s credit report!
Remember that children are the most innocent targets of all, and thieves will do anything to get what they want. As a parent, you have always striven to protect your children from hurt and danger. Now, you should be there to protect them from a ruined credit report and start into their early independence.
Get more information about credit monitoring, credit monitoring service, credit score monitoring, credit reports Please CLICK HERE
Source: http://www.bestcreditreports.com/blog/
This situation became real in the life of Olivia McNamara, a freshman at Vanderbilt University who applied for a credit card in order to start her journey as a young adult. Unfortunately, she was declined—twice. Finally, her instincts kicked in and she decided to do some researching on her own to find out the problem with her credit. The result? Someone had stolen her identity and credit when she was 9 years old and racked up $1.5 million in debt. The credit thief also created 42 accounts with her identity.
Olivia is not alone. Eleven-year-old Brianna and eight-year-old Bradley have also been victims of identity theft. Their theft debts now total more than $150,000. Bradley’s account contained two student loans—a blow to whatever possible money he could have had for college. Just this week, ten-year old Makena Rung of Lincoln, Nebraska was the victim of identity theft when Yeni Pena used her social security number to work at a restaurant called the Baja Grill in Omaha, Nebraska. The Rung family reported in October 2011 that their vehicle had been broken into. Someone stole a purse containing personal documents—documents that ended up in Peni’s hands. Peni is currently in the Douglas County Corrections Center under a $25,000 bond and immigration delay. It appears that she was an illegal alien who used a ten-year-old’s social security number to get a job in this country. She knew that illegal aliens without social security numbers could not.
Derek Jones’ seven-year-old son was the victim of child identity theft last month in Reidsville, North Carolina. He and his wife are divorced, but both claim their two children in alternating years. This year, Derek was supposed to claim his son; he was told by his accountant that he could not file under his son’s name. The reason? Someone else filed with his son’s name, social security number, and birth date. The thieves may have received a lump sum of money from their tax return and purchased numerous possessions by way of his son’s personal information. Additionally, they took Jones’s $4,000 child tax credit that he was to receive this year as well.
According to Olivia McNamara, credit thieves purchased houses, boats, and cars with her $1.5 million debt. Apparently, the shocking news in all of this is that children do have credit—a conception that parents will forever be forced to wrap their minds around. It has always been assumed that children had no credit, which is why many apply for credit at 18 years old. Now, child credit identity theft is overturning prior assumptions about child credit.
According to studies done on child identity, 1 in 10 children each year are victims of child identity theft. Often, the corruption persists for years, with parents oblivious to what could be going on with their child’s credit score and/or report. The technological age has eased the process by which computer hackers can access children’s social security numbers. Hospital computers and files, as well as home computers and school computer records have all been targets of what experts say is a growing crime niche in the United States.
In another case this week, the search engine giant Google blocked a CareFusion, Inc. website after it was found to contain 48 Trojan Horse programs. The site was renown for updating software in various medical devices. Consequently, viruses were being downloaded to hospital files without hospital consent. The infected software was discovered by Kevin Fu, a UMass security researcher who noticed it when downloading updates for AVEA ventilators.
In light of the growing child identity theft in this country, parents must do what they can to protect not only themselves, but also their children. One source of child ID theft you may not think about is relatives and friends. Family members are not always trustworthy, and just because they are close to you does not mean they will not steal and deceive in order to get what they want. The statistics bear this truth: Forbes magazine found that thirty percent of all new child ID cases involve friends and relatives. One excellent way to protect your child’s identity is to place your child’s medical, school, and hospital records in a safe place that is not easily accessible to house guests. You should not leave child documents lying around the house, even if close relatives are coming to visit. It is better to be safe than sorry.
Another precaution that parents can take to protect their child’s credit is to check your child’s credit report and credit score frequently—even if your child is too young to apply for a credit card or student loan. Had Olivia McNamara’s parents thought to keep tabs on her credit report and score while she was younger, she may have avoided the $1.5 million debt price tag she now has to spend years escaping. There are a few ways to check on your child’s credit score and report. One way is to draw your child’s credit report once every four months. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 entitles each American to one free credit report every four months. Ninety-six percent of consumers do not take advantage of their free credit reports each year—a small act that may save your credit from ID theft in the near and distant future.
Credit freezes are another major effort consumers can employ to protect their child’s credit. Place a credit freeze on your child’s account, which will prevent thieves from accessing your child’s credit report and score. If thieves cannot see that your child’s credit is squeaky clean (and they also know that they cannot pull your child’s credit report), your child will not be subject to student loans and credit cards that they do not know about until adulthood.
Most Americans opt for another plan, that of credit monitoring. Credit monitoring allows a credit monitoring agency to watch your credit report and provide email and mail updates regarding any changes that take place on the account during the month or week. Consumer credit experts recommend that you pay for a credit monitoring service that will watch all three credit reports from the three major consumer credit agencies: TransUnion, EquiFax, and Experian. You will have to pay $15-$20 a month for excellent credit monitoring services, but $15-$20 a month over 18 years amounts to much less than what ID thieves could amass on your child’s credit report!
Remember that children are the most innocent targets of all, and thieves will do anything to get what they want. As a parent, you have always striven to protect your children from hurt and danger. Now, you should be there to protect them from a ruined credit report and start into their early independence.
Get more information about credit monitoring, credit monitoring service, credit score monitoring, credit reports Please CLICK HERE
Source: http://www.bestcreditreports.com/blog/
