It Takes a Thief

School is out and we always start our summer by cleaning out all the paperwork collected over the school year. As my kids were adding their paperwork to our already mountainous shred pile, they asked, “Why can’t we just throw this stuff in the garbage?”

It was the perfect time to talk about Identity Theft.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that 9 million+ Americans have their identities stolen each year. Check out their website that focuses on Deter, Detect and Defend.

Explain to your kids that identity theft happens when someone uses your personal information (your name, credit card number, social security, etc) without your permission to commit a crime or fraud.  The thieves can get your information in various ways: your trash, stealing your wallet (credit cards), skimming at a debit/credit card machine, spam or pop-up emails. Tell them that it is important for them not to share personal information or give friends their PIN numbers or passwords for ANY account (email, social networks, or bank accounts).

For teens and young adults, they should get in the habit of carefully monitoring their checking and saving accounts. Annually, they should check their credit report to look for errors and discrepancies.  With our teens living their lives “on-line,” they should be on guard when using the internet and should take steps to secure their computers from attack.

It’s never too early to teach your kids to protect their money. After our discussion, my kids were psyched to use our shredder!

Happy Shredding!