With all the things to knock out on your parenting to-do list, when’s the last time you thought to monitor the status of your child’s identity? If you look at the growing risks, monitoring your child’s identity — starting as early as birth — could become as important as regular dental check-ups.
Identity fraud is at an all-time high with 15.4 million U.S. victims in 2016, up 16 percent, according to the latest Javelin Strategy study. An earlier Javelin report focusing on child identity theft estimated that 1 in 40 U.S. households with children under age 18 had at least one child whose personal information had been compromised by thieves.
Sadly, anyone with a name and a social security number (SSN) is prone to identity theft — yes, even our children. Identity thieves are increasingly using children’s SSNs since theft in this age group often goes undiscovered for extended periods of time, often until the…
