Key Points
From there, the crooks can do anything from going on a spending spree totrying to claimthe childs government benefitslike healthcare coverage or nutrition assistance..
Unless youre monitoring throughan identity-theft protection service,you wont know your childs identity has been stolen until they apply for creditor a job,"says cybersecurity expert DomingoGuerra, executive vice president of trust atIncodeTechnologies, a company that provides virtual identity verification..
The first step to protect children is to freeze their credit, which restricts anyone, including the parent or child, from opening new credit accounts with the childs Social Security number..
Dont overlook a very basic move: Lock their birth certificate and Social Security cardsomeplace safe, like a cabinet or safe, and if documents are stored in the cloud, be sure to use a password manager and multifactor authentication to gain access to those files, says Max Anderson, chief growth officer at360Privacy, a company that deletes information of customers off the internet..
If parents suspect their childs identity has been stolen, Leach says, the first thing to do is call the companies that have extended credit in the childs name.Tell the companies to send written confirmation that the account is closed right away..
