We all know identity theft is one of the biggest problems that can harm everyone. But do you have any idea that it’s spreading among kids, teenagers and college students also these days? Right now, it’s essential for you to know how much is it important to protect your child's personal information from the hands of bad people!
Identity theft is when some people utilize your personal data for committing crimes and also to steal your money. These thieves may use your personal details, like - your social security number, bank account number, and password to prepare a fake credit card. Those fraudsters may use that credit card to buy expensive goods, opt for loans, and even cash out all your savings.
Why are kids an easy prey for those thieves? Since kids have neat and clean blank credit reports, identity snatchers prefer to target them initially. In 2008's Carnegie Mellon study, nearly 40,000 children were victims of identity theft, aged below 18. The most surprising fact is that the number of child victims is twice than adults. According to the reports of childtheft.org, between 500,000 and 750,000 children become victims of identity theft every year, half of which are under six.
So what should be your strategies to protect your teenager’s identity? Practically, you should talk to your kids first. Getting to know their opinion about this matter is essential. The GenY can initiate active steps regarding this matter.
So as a dutiful parent, what should you tell your kids about being alert? Here are a few steps teens and kids need to take:
1. Keep control over your sharing habits - Kids are now familiar with the world of social media – Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, and many more sharing platforms. If your kids are following the big mass, it’s likely that they’re also sharing every detail of their life in front of the open world through social media.
It is OK for kids to share their vivid moments through various social platforms, but you must teach them to maintain their boundaries while sharing their content online with anybody.
Let them know that it’s highly risky to reveal their full identity including address or contact details online. This information is like a trump card for identity thieves, and they’ll not hesitate to use it in future to make a hole in your kids finances.
2. Always keep your banking information a secret - Once your kids open a new bank account, ask them to keep their account number and password secret from their friends. We know it may be very tempting to share that information with friends, but it can be risky too. If anyhow your kid shares his banking details with an unknown person, that guy can use that information and steal all the money your son have now. Your son may be innocent, but that guy can be a fake. Of course, all of his friends aren’t thieves, but someone can, and that’s quite possible. So, be sure your teenager son changes his passwords on a regular basis and try to keep that information private.
3. Tackle credit card offers – Your kids will get many credit card offers as soon as they sign up for a student loan or a secured credit card at younger ages. Your kid must not remove those credit card offers while sorting several emails. There's a chance of getting spam emails with a pre-approved loan or credit card offer. Ask them for not giving any replies to those emails. Those offers could include some information seeking questions that would make easier for the spammers to fetch total information of your kids. By using that information, they can create a fake profile of your child and operate it.
So make sure your kids avoid those offers. If any offer is too much lucrative to refuse, check it properly and communicate with the credit card company to know more details. Ask your teenager to read every mail properly before replying.
4. Regularly check credit reports – If you have any doubt about your child’s identity, you can surely collect the credit report once in awhile and take a closer look. But, it’ll be great if you can discuss the matter with your teenage kid and do the checking together. By this way, your kid will also learn how to keep an eye on his finances and also know what warning signs to look for.
If both of you can see a problem on his credit report, contact the appropriate person as soon as possible. If you find a new account in his name which you didn't open, ask your bank to look into the matter. You can call the cops also if you can find any wrong monetary transaction.
Above mentioned strategies won’t help your kids always to avoid identity fraud. They’ll need to begin good financial habits also to protect themselves from being conned. So, start guiding your kids about these good fraud protection habits now. Your kids will become self-sufficient and they can handle any problem in future.