Bob

The missus was just at a talk all about fraud, but the one thing I thought folks might be interested about is identity theft of their kids.

Seems the scammers are not using dead people quite so much now as people have caught on to it, so they are now using kids ID's.

Lets face it, who runs a credit check on their kids social?

People are finding out they're had their ID scammed when they get denied for student loans and student credit cards, finding out someone has taken out loans for thousands and left them delinquent. It seems to be a bit of a mess and only really being noticed now.

Michael

Actually that has been quite common for a long time except it was a parent of relative that stole the identity of the child since their credit was so bad and then they ran their child's credit into the ground. It is only when the child reaches adulthood that he/she realizes that their credit score is in the tank.

Bob

Aye, the family connection in the past, but it seems the fraudsters are now targeting the kids themselves now.

sir_eccles

Surely a credit check would reveal the age of the person and getting credit under 18 shouldn't be possible?

Michael

When someone doesn't have a credit history, the credit bureaus take the information from the companies that are issuing the credit and puts it into their datatbases. That information is collected from an application that the person fills out and the person indicates that he/she has a specific birth date and the company giving the credit doesn't try to verify the birth date in relation to the social security number. Therefore that birth date ends up in the database of the credit bureaus.

Once credit has been established, the person then gets as much credit as possible and charges to the hilt and then disappears.

sir_eccles

That makes sense. For some crazy reason I thought the credit bureaus might actually you know do something useful like check the age with SSA.

Michael

The merchant doesn't and neither does the credit bureaus. Many times the merchant doesn't even ask for an ID after an application is filled out and online applications seldom ask for proof of identity. However if anyone asked, they would have a fake drivers license.

Bluegrass Lass

I wonder how they are getting the child's SSN in the first place? Are they hacking databases at schools or something to get the info? It's not like the child is actively using that number when they are still minors.

sir_eccles

Medical visits, college funds, and several other instances where I have been stumped to remember the little one's SSN recently.

Michael

Or some people put their tax return or other information with their social number in the mailbox for pickup by the postman (also a postal worker could be an inside man to get social security numbers).

Bob

Condo apartments, the management are meant to have the info secured, but when we were checking out a few places, they weren't that secure and anyone could rummage around the office to get the info of the people applying to live there etc.

GeoffM

So the solution that seems obvious to me (but probably over simplified) is to get the kids registered at each credit agency. But how?!

If only it was that easy for us (genuine) newbies...

Bob

Well these folks have a few years to work on it to get really useful I guess...

Anyway, another way they can get the info is via those prescription labels on empty med bottles. Apparently those barcodes have a lot more info on them than you'd expect. Enough that folks could get a fair bit of personal and medical info that they could use that to get at your social.

So seems something else to peal and shred :/

robin1234

I'd wondered about empty prescription bottles; I found that some peeled easily, so you could destroy the label and are left with a useful little container. But most are impossible to peel, since they use some unpeelable kind of glue or label..

bruceba

So the solution that seems obvious to me (but probably over simplified) is to get the kids registered at each credit agency. But how?!

You can freeze their credit reports until they are old enough to establish their own credit. No one can apply for credit until unfrozen. i think it costs about $10. for each of the three credit report companies.