It’s Friday and I am feeling a little disillusioned about everything at the moment. I just received an email from one of my readers asking if it were possible for a 13 year old to be a victim of identity theft. The question left me stunned. I do this stuff for a living and everyday I am amazed at the audacity of the human condition.
The vultures always prey on the weak and the young. There is no greater display of this carnage than in the arena of identity fraud. We are in the middle of major information crises in this country and yet we as consumers still believe that protection is possible, even expected.
Have we lost all sanity in this country? My first thought, was NO! She doesn’t have an IDENTITY to steal, right? So, I did some research.
The real answer is that this is an actual epidemic. So the scenario goes like this: You have mom and dad they have horrible credit, but not just bad credit they also have legal issues listed on their bureau. They need to start fresh so Daddy uses his little princess’ social security number to turn the lights back on and keep the water running. Then times get really bad and he starts using her social to build credit. By the time she is 18 she has a fully established credit file, but it is not usually in good shape.
No one knows for sure how many children become victims of identity theft. In 2005, roughly 5% of all identity theft complaints received by the Federal Trade Commission were about victims 18 years old or younger. But that might be a significant underestimation since not everyone files a complaint with the FTC. For example, a large portion of child identity theft cases remain unreported because the thief is a parent or close relative.
It is amazing the information that one can get on another without doing anything illegal. We talked about in our previous post (Trans Union vs. FTC) about the fact that Trans Union was peddling “targeted” information to data warehouses for resell. I do not want to pick on Trans Union because they all do it. Even our supposed protector, the Federal Government, is a master of capturing information. They spy, tap, watch, and interrogate all in the name of…of…FREEDOM?
So since, there appears to be no one really to help you protect yourself then it looks like you are going to have to do it. There are so many tools that can help you monitor those who are monitoring. Whether it is a family member or a scammer looking for its next victim you have to protect yourself and your family.
Here are a few tips:
- 1. One of the biggest things you can do is to check your credit on regular bases. We recommend working with a service that has a credit watch package. One of the cheapest and best we have found is Credit.com. They allow you to pull all three credit bureaus and also give you all three credit scores for only $14.95.
- 2. Take your name off as many lists as possible. We are pointing our clients to Proquo.com, a resource that allows you opt-out of prescreened approvals. Be prepared to spend some time on the site because you have to get through each one manually.
- 3. Next if you have kids it would not be a bad plan to order a free report via mail once a year just to make sure nothing is happening. I will give the contact info at the end.
Disaster response: Navigating the credit bureau maze
What if you find that your child has been a victim of identity theft? The credit bureaus claim this shouldn’t have harmful consequences if parents follow the necessary procedures to report the fraud. “We can investigate to see if the child’s information has been used and if it has, we can prevent it from being used in the future,” says Clifton O’Neal, a spokesman for TransUnion, one of the three major credit bureaus. The procedures, however, differ widely among the credit bureaus and can be frustratingly confusing.
At Experian, for example, as long as parents provide a police report they can place what is known as a “victim statement” on their child’s credit file. That means the bureau will attach a note saying the credit information belongs to a minor and warns creditors not to approve credit applications until the child turns 18. TransUnion will “cloak” the victim’s file, hiding it from creditors entirely. Equifax said it will delete any fraudulent information from the child’s report; take it offline and flag the Social Security number as belonging to a minor, so it cannot be used until the child turns 18.
Bottom line: If your child falls prey to identity thieves, calling just one of the credit bureaus - a common scenario in adult identity theft cases, since each bureau is required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act to inform the other two - isn’t sufficient.
Carol Gomez, a homicide detective in Mesa, Ariz., experienced this firsthand when her car, an unmarked police vehicle, was stolen earlier this year while she was on duty. The car was later found, but her purse was missing, along with both her and her 11-year-old son’s Social Security cards. The credit bureau she contacted placed a security flag on her credit file, but not her son’s, since he didn’t yet have a file. “They said that since he was a juvenile, they wouldn’t be able to put an alert on his file,” she says. “They didn’t act like it was a big deal. And we know that it is.”
My question is as much technology and money as the credit bureaus have why could they not come up with a system that flags the birthdates that are under the age of 18. Then they could “lock” those files down until they are of age. The credit bureaus would probably tell you, based on past experience, that they cannot do that because it is a “violation of free speech.”
| CONTACTING THE CREDIT BUREAUS |
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Credit Bureau
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Contact Information
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The Procedure
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| Experian |
Call 1-888-379-3792, select the Fraud option. |
Parents have to mail in documentation, including proof that they are the parent or legal guardian for the child, such as a birth certificate for the child and driver’s license for the parent.
If the child does not have a credit file, Experian will notify the parents in writing.
If a credit file exists, Experian will provide a copy to the parent so they can dispute any fraudulent information. The bureau will attach a notice on the file that it belongs to a minor, to prevent lenders from issuing credit in the future. |
| Equifax |
Mail a request to:
Equifax Information Services
P.O. Box 105139
Atlanta, GA 30348 |
Attach documentation identifying you as the child’s parent (see above).
If a credit record exists, Equifax will delete any fraudulent accounts, take the report offline and flag the Social Security number as one belonging to a minor. Parents cannot receive a copy of the fraudulent report. |
| TransUnion |
Email childidtheft@transunion.com |
TransUnion will email back instructions on requesting a file. If one exists, the bureau will lock the file until the child turns 18, so his or her information cannot be used to obtain credit. |
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