Fergie's Tech Blog

Identity Thieves Stealing Children's Identities at Alarming Rate

An AP newswire article by Eileen AJ Connelly, via MSNBC.com, reports that:

Among the people Linda Foley is currently working to help are a 3-year-old whose Social Security number is being used by someone for work purposes. And there's a 5-year-old whose identity is linked to driver's licenses, arrest warrants for drunken driving, and a warrant for unpaid child support.

These stories may sound unusual, but Foley has heard of many such situations since she started the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center in 1999, and she's convinced that the poaching of children's identities is more common than anyone knows.

Because identity theft is typically associated with financial matters like the misuse of credit cards, most people don't consider the possibility that their child's personal information could be stolen and misused. But more than 34,000 identity theft reports to the Federal Trade Commission from 2005 to 2007 concerned children under age 18.

posted by Fergie @ 9/24/2008 03:17:00 PM