Are Teenagers Affected by ID Theft?
Believe it or not, identity theft can affect just about anybody and teenagers may be even more at risk than you think! Teenagers and even preteens have increasingly become targets of identity theft in the United States, often without the victim or the parents being aware of it. Why are children being targeted so frequently now? Simply because they have a clean credit score and won’t realize what has happened for several years. In many cases, we’re actually seeing parents stealing their children’s identities in order to get out of a financial bind. Unfortunately, it often turns in to a much larger problem which the teenager never knows of until years later. Imagine your children finding out they can’t open a credit card or take out a student loan because of an identity theft that you had no idea about. It happens to thousands of children every year, that’s why it’s so important to be aware of the dangers of identity theft and have an identity theft protection program for your entire family.
How to Protect Teenager’s Identities
As a responsible parent, you want to do everything you can to make sure your child has a good future ahead of them. Even though your family will still be at risk without an identity theft protection program, there are some steps you can take on your own to help protect the identities of your loved ones:
- Many schools use their children’s social security number as their student number or computer log-in, request that they use a different number.
- Do not give your own or your child’s personal information out online or over the phone unless you know who you’re giving it to.
- Monitor your child’s use of the internet to make sure they are not revealing any personal information on networking sites (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) or through chatting. Make them aware of online scams and viruses as well.
- Inform your entire family about the dangers of identity theft and how they need to protect themselves.
