Parents Using Kids’ Social Security Number for Identity Theft Is Growing Trend
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Josephine Nesbit
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Cory Dudak
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Children are at a higher risk of identity theft, according to a new report from the Federal Trade Commission. The perpetrators? Their parents.
According to a report released by the FTC, the government agency responsible for protecting the public from identity theft, 22,229 claims of identity theft from kids in the U.S. under age 19 were filed in 2023. This is an increase from a little over 21,000 claims in 2018, and represents more than $15 million in fraudulent losses.
Jennifer Leach, associate director of the FTC’s Division of Consumer and Business Education, said these crimes often go undetected for years, especially when committed by family members, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
In 2011, Carnegie Mellon CyLab conducted an analysis and found that out of more than 40,000 American children, 10% had someone else using their Social Security number. This means that kids were 51 times more likely to fall victim to identity theft by their parents, Fortune reported. Children’s identities were used to purchase homes and cars, open credit card accounts and secure employment, the report said. The youngest victim was only five months old.
Another study in 2021 by Javelin Strategy found that one in 50 U.S. children fall victim to identity theft every year, Fortune added, and 73% of victims were targeted by someone they know personally.
“A lot of the time, it involves families that are in dire straits, where they’re facing something like a serious economic crunch or addiction issues,” Hari Ravichandran, CEO and founder of digital security firm Aura, told Fortune. “When kids are born, they get a Social Security number that generally never gets used until they’re about 17 or 18 — so there’s this large window of time where there’s a clean Social Security number available.”
If you’re a victim of familial fraud, treat it the same as if it were committed by a stranger, wrote CyberScout founder and identity theft expert Adam Levin in a 2021 article. According to Levin, victims should freeze credit at the three credit reporting agencies, place a 90-day fraud alert on their credit, file a police report and dispute all fraudulent accounts and charges.
Levin said recovery from identity theft can take years to resolve, but the sooner you pursue action, the easier it will be to get your life back on track. He also suggested checking with your insurance company and HR department to see if they have a relationship with an identity theft resolution service.
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