Police: Children Can be Victims of Identity Theft Too

It’s a sad state of affairs that identity theft has doubled in the past year for children age 5 and younger. 

According to www.allclearid.com, some say a child is a blank slate, yet to be written upon. Unfortunately, it means the same to identity thieves. 

The new data in this report says the younger the child, the more likely they will be a victim of identity theft because this gives the thief more time to go undetected while they use the child’s identity.

It is very important for a parent to check their child’s credit report on a regular basis. In my opinion, the best preventative a parent can do is to put a security freeze on their child’s credit, as I have suggested many times to put one on yours. This helps to prevent someone from opening credit using your child’s information. 

Information on a credit freeze can be found on the websites of Experian,Equifax or Trans-Union or Clark Howard’s site at www.clarkhoward.com.

Identity theft will continue to rise since little is done by the government or corporations to protect our information. Your personal information is readily bought and sold on the internet by criminals. It is up to you to protect your family’s information. 

Some other information on Identity Theft can be found on the Federal Trade Commission’s website at www.ftc.gov.

Officer Larry Jacobs is the Crime Prevention Officer for theSandy Springs Police Department.  He canbe reached directly at ljacobs@sandyspringsga.gov.