#Lifelock | Children are Prime Targets for Identity Theft

Last year when I was invited to Lifelock headquarters in Tempe, AZ, I was most shocked and amazed at one story I heard.  It was about a father who stole his own child’s identity, committed fraud, and the child never had a clue until he was an older teen.  Children are prime targets for identity theft because they typically lack credit records.  This results in pristine credit histories ripe for the taking.

Since children will not establish credit for some time, the crime often goes undetected for many years resulting in a multitude of defaulted accounts associated with their name. Identity thieves, criminals, and even relatives or friends may take advantage of your child’s identity. Personal identity information such as your child’s Social Security number and date of birth can be obtained from many places including medical offices, schools, and even online profiles.  Even your newborn can be issued a social security number that has already been stolen!

Watch this Today Show video, it’s quite frightening when you think about it!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Armed with a child’s personal information, thieves can fraudulently:

• Open new credit-based accounts like credit cards or mortgages
• Establish new non-credit accounts like utilities, and cell phone services
• Obtain employment and then evade paying taxes, for which the child will be held responsible

Dealing with child identity theft can be extremely difficult. Laws are frequently incapable of handling the crime’s complexity, and financial institutions are often unable to help. The consequences for your child can include difficulty with college admissions and loans, inability to obtain a driver’s license, receipt of collection notices, and even having an outstanding arrest warrant. It pays to protect your children with greater peace of mind.

LifeLock Identity Alert system doesn’t require credit files to help protect your family, giving them the benefit of broader identity coverage and early notification of potential threats to your child’s identity. They know most children don’t have credit files, and don’t establish utilities or apply for mortgages. That’s why the advanced LifeLock Identity Alert system helps detect applications for many forms of credit and non-credit based services using any piece of your child’s identity information – even just the Social Security number.

Not only do they alert you when they find applications for many forms of retail credit cards, mortgage loans, and auto loans, but also for other non-credit related transactions, including wireless service, utilities, check reorders, and non-credit related payday loans that contain your child’s identity information. If an application is fraudulent, their remediation team will take action to help restore your child’s good name.

Benefits for children under 18
LifeLock will:

–Provide early notification by postal mail, email, and/or phone when the Lifelock identity Alert system detectsyour child’s personal information being used to apply for many forms of credit or services.

–While most children do not have credit reports, they will request your child’s free annual credit report from the major credit reporting agencies on an annual basis so you can check for discrepancies or potential problems.*

–They will provide you with information so you can send a form once a year to request a copy of the child’s earnings report from the social security Administration. You will then be responsible for submitting this
request to the social security Administration. this report will allow you to check for fraudulent work and
earnings histories.**

–Help cancel or replace the contents of your child’s lost or stolen wallet with Walletlock.

Note: Members under 18 must have service administered by a parent or legal guardian.

*Extra precaution with your child’s personal information – credit reports are requested with a partially
masked SSN, so that they can continue to keep your sensitive personal information secure.

**Simplifying your role – we cannot request the SSA for your child’s Earning Report, because it involves asking for more information on your child to which only you have access.

Every child enrolled in LifeLock for Minors is covered by our $1 Million Total Service Guarantee. As a member of LifeLock, if your child becomes a victim of identity theft due to a failure in our service, we’ll help fix it at our expense, up to $1,000,000. (Restrictions apply. See lifelock.org for details.) Help protect your children today with LifeLock. It’s easy and inexpensive to add a child to your existing account.

Information is provided to me via Lifelock’s Ambassador program.  I am being compensated, but all opinions are my own.  My children are all covered by Lifelock!