Children Are Victims of Identity Theft Too

In today's world, one way for an identity to be stolen is through that person's social security number. With our advanced society that is so fast paced, it has become a trend for new parents to apply for a social security number for their child when they are born, thinking that they are helping their child's future. Yet it is through those same actions that they are doing creating the exact opposite result. It isn't necessary for a newborn child to receive a social security number. A social security number is necessary for those seeking employment, needing social assistance or other types of government funding - none of which are necessary for children to receive. When a young child has received a social security number, they have unfortunately become an easy target for identity stealing thieves who love these social security numbers as they usually go unmonitored for many, many years..

A report was released in 2006 stating that in America an average of 5 percent of all identity theft victims were children under the age of 18 years. That means that over 50,000 children a year become victims of identity theft. Thieves are finding it easier than ever to commit fraud using a child's identity since children normally don't have a credit history nor will they need to use their credit until they enter into post secondary education at the earliest.

When a child's identity is stolen, the thieves can use this information for a greater reduction on their taxes, to receive expensive hospital procedures and apply for credit cards with no intention of paying these bills. When a child's social security number is received, it must be kept in a safe place; otherwise the child's identity could be at risk.

There are ways to protect your child and their future credit history. If you have secured a social security number for your child, be careful about which institutions you give your child's social security number to. There are various organizations that will need to retain your children's personal information for their files. Doctor offices, schools and daycare centers all routinely ask for copies of a child's birth certificate. As a parent is it up to you to determine if it is really necessary for these organizations to have this information. While some organizations, like the doctor's office, may actually need to be provided with this information, as a parent it is your right to ask how they dispose of and store all patient information.

Finding lost or discarded information is fairly easy. Dumpster diving is one way that identity thieves retrieve their information. It is important that you ensure that all forms where you write your child's social security number on are properly discarded - as in shredding - and not just thrown into a garbage bin crumpled up. You can do this by asking how that company discards personal information. It is estimated that roughly one quarter of all child identity thefts occur when a dishonest employee snoops in files they aren't authorized to view at their place of work. The fewer places your child's information is recorded the safer your child is.

Do not give out your child's personal information to family or close friends unless it is absolutely necessary. It has happened where in many child identity theft cases a child's credit has been ruined by a close friend or relative who were able to access the social security number or other information of a child. Only parents or legal guardians need to know a child's social security number once it has been received.

One very important step to take towards safeguarding a child's identity is to teach your child about the dangers of giving out personal information. It is especially important to teach your child about the dangers of the internet and how to protect yourself from hidden dangers. Teach your child not to use their personal information on-line, specifically on social networking sites where they ask for information such as birth date, address, and phone numbers. Make sure that you regularly check your child's profile on these sites in order to monitor what type of information your child is making public. There are many child friendly sites available to children where they can meet new friends and not have the opportunity to give out this information.

Teach your child how to protect their personal information on a daily basis. As your child gets older it is important to teach them how important it is to always be aware of their 'stuff'. Wallets, purses and even cell phones can provide identity thieves with ready access to all types of personal information. Make sure your child is ready for this responsibility before they are allowed to carry these items out in public.

Check your children's credit reports annually when you check your own.

Each year all the major credit agencies will allow people to obtain one free credit report. When you check your credit, you should also attempt obtain a free credit report for each of your children if they have social security numbers. If everything is normal, your child's report should be blank. It is also important to be aware that if your child begins to receive credit card offers in the mail it is a signal that their identity could have been compromised. If that happens, check their credit report immediately.

When it comes to identity theft, it is important to be aware that it is not only your identity that can be compromised but also your child's. With smaller children it is your responsibility to protect their personal information from being used illegally. As your child gets older, it is essential that you begin to teach your child how to protect themselves from identity thieves. It is our job as parents to teach our children the necessary skills for them to become successful adults, and learning how to protect their identity is one of these important skills. It's never too early to begin protecting your children's identity, in fact, you should begin today or better yet, right now.

The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention   

Proposed Law Offers Protection of Social Security Numbers and Medicaid

In this day and age, when you think of identity theft you automatically think about computers and losing your personal information over the web digitally, but there are many other ways you could have your identity stolen. Aside from computers, the easiest way to have your identity stolen is through the use of physical media like your drivers license, Social Security card, or your Medicare card, and this is why one Senator is fighting to have personal identification numbers removed from important documents.

Change is needed

Do you carry your Social Security card around with you? What happens if and you lose, or have your wallet or purse stolen? A identity thief would easily be able to steal your identity if you had your social security card in it. Most people now leave their personal identification cards at home, but what about the millions of people who are currently on Medicare?

The many millions who currently participate in the Medicare program have to carry around their Medicare card with them. The Medicare card has both the patients SSN and date of birth printed on the card, and that is a major cause for concern. Luckily one Senator has seen the light, and is now working towards changing this.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, (Democrat from New York) is seeking to stop the use of Social Security numbers on Medicare cards. Senator Gillibrand is shocked that the Medicare cards still have patients Social Security numbers, and dates of birth on them. Gillibrand said that use of personal identification numbers on the Medicare cards puts millions of people at a major risk when it comes to having their identity stolen/ Gillibrand is now hoping that the new bill will put an end to the use of Social Security numbers on the cards.

A new plan for protection

Many believe that Social Security numbers are over used, and that they are being used beyond their intended purpose. There are 33 states right now that prohibit the the use of personal identification numbers on insurance cards, simply because are not needed for patients to receive treatment.

The new legislation which is called the Social Security Number Protection Act, would make it so that Social Security numbers could not be used on a federal level. This means that new Medicare cards would not have these numbers on them, which would also mean that the millions of citizens on the Medicare program could carry their cards without having to worry about getting their number or their identity stolen.

Social Security numbers are invaluable to both you, and to identity thieves because they act as personal identification. When your SSN is used with your date of birth, identity thieves could easily open credit cards, or get other lines of credit with your personal information. If this were to happen your good name will quickly turn sour. This is why Senator Gillibrand is fighting for the new protection act.

How to protect yourself

If you are currently on Medicare, and you are worried about carrying the Medicare card around with you, there is something you can do to protect your information.

If you have access to a scanner, or photocopier, simply make a copy of both sides of your Medicare card. Once you have copied the card, cut the copies out of the paper. Carefully cut the last four digits of your personal identification number out of the card. Then simply glue the front of the card to the copy of the back.

Now you have a copy of your Medicare card that does not have your entire Social Security number on it. You can carry this card around with you knowing that if you lose, or have your purse, or wallet stolen, nobody will have access to your full Social Security number. You will still be able to receive treatment when presenting this card at hospitals and current doctors.

Keep your real Medicare card (or any important document) in a safe place, like a fire proof safe in your home. The only time you will have to take the Medicare card out with you is when you visit a new doctor for the first time. Follow these simple steps and be one step ahead of the identity thieves.

The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention   

Ways People Don't Know They Can Become Victims Of Identity Theft - Falling Victim to Identity Theft

It's very difficult today not to become a victim of Identity Theft. The chances of someone actually having their identity stolen is much larger than most people think. Everyday these crooks come up with new schemes to steal a person's identity, that it makes it nearly impossible to keep up with them. There are thousands of ways that an identity criminal can access your information. However, majority of our nation's population believes that a criminal has to physically steal your belongings in order to get your personal data. On the contrary, they have figured out several ways to take your personal information without having to lay a hand on any of your tangible items.

3 Ways To Have Your Information Stolen That Most Don't Know About

1. R.F.I.D- Also known as Radio Frequency Identification Technology. This is a new and up coming scheme that is starting to find it's way through the United States. The funny part of it all, is that you have probably used an RFID once or twice before without realizing it. This type of technology is found in most of our credit, debit, or bank cards. You simply wave the card in front of the device and it will pick up your information so that you would not have to input any pin numbers of any sort. Some banks, department stores, and drive through food places have these types of devices for their customers. Here's the kicker, crooks are able to purchase a wireless R.F.I.D. device for less than a $100 and carry it in the palm of their hand. All the identity thief has to do is simply pass by you like anyone else, and the R.F.I.D. will pick up all your card information without you ever noticing. This also goes for passports as well. It happens in less than 2 seconds.

2. Wireless Networks- Many places now offer the convenience of free Wi-Fi. The problem with connecting to a Wi-Fi network, is that there have been hundreds of cases where people believed they were connecting to a friendly network, but in fact were connecting to a fraudulent one. Thieves can set up a wireless network at the exact same spot you are at and use the exact same name as the place offering free Wi-Fi. Once connected to the fake Wi-Fi Network, the crooks can actually hack into your system and begin downloading your personal info that you may have on you computer. Also, they can see everything you are seeing. So if you are using your email or checking your online bank account, the crooks can also see your personal information. No matter if you have any type of security protection. Once you are sharing a wireless network that's not yours, your information is available to whom ever it does belong to.

3. Social Security Number Prediction- This by far is the most devious way identity crooks can obtain your Social Security number. You don't have to be an identity theft expert to know that that your Social Security is the number one tool for an identity thief to begin destroying all your credit. You S.S number actually stands for a code. These criminals have figured out what each number stands for, making it easy to predict a S.S number that has not yet been issued. or can randomly figure out one that has been issued. You will never know if you or your child's Social Security number is being used until your next credit report or when you try to open a credit account and you have less than bad credit.

In Conclusion...

Despite the ever growing rate of Identity Theft, there are many ways to prevent it from happening to you and your family. The most difficult part however, is knowing what you need to do to start protecting them. Practicing awareness is always the best solution. The more you become aware of Identity Theft and how it can affect you or your loved ones, the more cautious you will be about how you handle your personal information.

The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention   

How Identity Theft Protection Is Like A Goalie For Penalty Kicks

Identity theft and Penalty kicks are a lot a like.

If you watched the penalty kicks portion of the Women's World Cup Final, even though there was a chance that the goalkeepers could keep balls from going into the net, you knew it was inevitable that goals would be scored. The key to stopping them is knowing/guessing where the ball was going. Sometimes even if you know, it's tough to stop. There are spaces in the goal that a goalkeeper just can't get to.

It is the same with identity theft. We can stop identity thieves if we know where they are going to hit us. We can pay cash instead of using credit cards. If we do use credit cards, we can put freezes on them or just monitor them. The same goes for bank accounts and the bills we pay. We can shred everything ( though, watching "Burn Notice" on USA Network last week showed me that if someone wants to, they can get around that).

But if the assistant at the doctor's office is having trouble paying bills and runs with the wrong crowd, it would be easy for him/her to take your and everyone else's information and sell it to those who would use it for illicit and illegal purposes. Or the clerk at the car dealership to use your financial and personal data for him self to qualify for that house he wants. Or maybe you just lose your wallet and someone takes your driver's license info and sells it to someone who will eventually commit a crime in your name. That means the police will come to arrest you! Lifelock isn't monitoring your driver's license.

Personal data is stolen every day without our knowledge. But, unlike a lost wallet which you can report right away, most times the companies it is stolen from won't report it until a later date. They have to get their story straight first (smh).

So what can you do? In soccer, when a goal is scored, the only thing you can do is work hard to score another to equalize or go ahead before time is up. With identity theft, you have work hard to restore your identity with paperwork and phone calls. The federal government can help you. Go to http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/. This can take anywhere from 25 to 600 hours. That's like taking three weeks off from work for a lot of people. There also are companies that will take care of it for you.

The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention   

On Guard Against Identity Theft: Basic Facts

Identity theft is generally considered to be the fastest-growing crime in the United States. The term itself refers to obtaining and using the personal identifying information of another person in order to fraudulently obtain goods and services. Personal identifying information includes things such as your name, date of birth, and Social Security number.

Roughly 700,000 people a year become victims of this crime. However, it is continually on the rise, with thieves employing a wide gamut of tactics from sophisticated online "phishing" scams to low-tech strategies like dumpster-diving. Thus, It is becoming more common - especially since the advent of the information age, when so much vital info about the world - and each other - is practically at our fingertips. That being the case, it goes without saying that practically anyone can become a victim.

The most common form of identity theft is credit card fraud; it is estimated to cost consumers hundreds of millions - some say billions - of dollars per year. Next is utilities fraud, followed by bank fraud. Credit card fraud can be particularly insidious, as you may not discover for quite some time that someone has, for instance, opened a new line of credit in your name and charged thousands of dollars to the account before leaving you stuck with the bill.

There are ways to protect yourself from identity theft. Credit monitoring, for instance, is absolutely critical to identity theft defense. Fortunately, you can obtain a free credit report from each of the three major credit-reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) annually. Thus, you can get a free copy of your credit report - one from a different credit-reporting agency - every four months. Likewise, regularly checking and balancing your bank account statements will also help you stay abreast of any irregularities that could be indicative of identity theft.

If you are already the victim of identity theft, it can be a long and arduous road getting back to some semblance of normalcy. On average, it is believed that it takes victims of identity theft six months to a year (and sometimes longer) to get matters rectified to some reasonable extent. This includes trying to recover money taken from bank accounts, as well as avoiding liability for goods and services that were never purchased or received (at least by the victim). Unfortunately, there is no sure-fire method to avoid becoming a victim. All you can do is take what precautions you can in order to mount a adequate identity theft defense. Just remember: it's easier to avoid becoming a victim than to recover from being one. In other words, this is truly a case where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention   

Why Do Thieves Commit Identity Theft

The thieves of the past have evolved over the years. This may be their way of keeping up with the changing world. They may also be evolving to be able to maximize the advantages that the world offers them.

In the past, thieves usually stole valuables such as money and jewellery. Nowadays, thieves steal for a lot of different reasons as the definition of valuable has changed considerably. The digital age which is marked by abundant influx of information has made data pertaining to people extremely valuable. You might be tempted to say that your name and birthday is unimportant, but a professional thief may have hundreds of uses of information as insignificant as someone's name and date of birth.

Why do thieves commit identity theft? There is a multitude of reasons, but some of the most important ones are listed below:

1. To cover up for another crime.

Identity thieves steal the identity of another individual in order to cover up for a crime that they have committed. There have been accounts of people being pinned down in a certain crime because of an identity thief's usage of their information. It happens mostly in cases of online crime, but there are cases where victims have been accused of a real-world crimes too.

2. To make unauthorized purchases.

Credit cards and credit card information are most usually stolen in order to make purchases. In the case of a stolen card, it will take time for the real owner to be informed that his or her card is being used for purchase, especially if the retail store is very lenient. Identity thieves can purchase all that they want until they reach the card's credit limit. After purchase, they usually simply toss your card away.

3. To extort money from your loved ones.

E-mail hacking is one of the earliest styles of identity theft. The thief will hack into your account, open your e-mail and then send a call for help type e-mail message to people your contact list. This ranges from them asking for monetary help because you are in a hospital, stranded in a foreign country without money or have been kidnapped. A lot of people who actually fall for this.

The reasons mentioned above are some of the most common and important reasons why a thief might be interested in stealing your identity. Knowing why thieves commit identity theft, and how they work helps you prepare and protect your identity.

The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention