Fergie's Tech Blog

New Targets For ID Theft: Your Children

Via CBS News.

It might seem as if children and teens are unlikely victims of identity theft, but the Federal Trade Commission has estimated that about 400,000 children have their identity stolen each year.

Youth are targets because, unlike many adults, they have clean credit records. Because kids aren't applying for credit or jobs or renting an apartment until at least their mid-teens, chances are no one is checking their credit reports, so thieves can get away with exploiting kids' IDs for years. Eventually, older teens will run into a problem when applying for a driver's license, a bank account, credit card, student loan, or that first apartment.

posted by Fergie @ 5/26/2007 10:14:00 AM