Child Identity Theft (Part 2)
Repair the damage.
Contact each credit reporting company.
If your child's credit report shows the child's information is being misused, call each credit reporting company. Ask each company to remove all accounts, account inquiries, and collection notices from any file associated with your child's name and Social Security number.
Contact every business where your child's information was misused. Ask each business to close the fraudulent account and flag it to show it resulted from identity theft.
Place a fraud alert.
Ask each company to put a fraud alert on your child's credit report. Contact one company; that company will contact the other two.
File a fraud report.
File a report with the Federal Trade Commission online or call 1-877-438-4338. If the fraud relates to medical services or taxes, you might need to file a police report, too.
How to Help a Child Victim of Identity Theft
- Contact each of the three nationwide credit reporting companies. Send a letter asking the companies to remove all accounts, inquires, and collection notices associated with the child's name or personal information. Explain that the child is a minor.
- Place a fraud alert.
- Learn about your rights. The credit reporting company will explain that you can get a free credit report, and other rights you have.
- Consider requesting a credit freeze. The credit reporting companies may ask for proof of the child's and parent's identity.
- Order the child's credit reports, and review them.
- Contact businesses where the child's information was misused.
- Create an Identity Theft Report.
- Learn more about repairing identity theft.
- Update your files. Record the dates you made calls or sent letters.
- Keep copies of letters in your files.
Prevention = Protection
Find a safe location for all paper and electronic records that show your child's personal information. Don't share your child's Social Security number unless you know and trust the other party. Ask why it's necessary and how it will be protected. Ask if you can use a different identifier, or use only the last four digits of your child's Social Security number.
Shred all documents that show your child's personal information before throwing them away. Be aware of events that put information at risk. For example, there's an adult in your household who might want to use a child's identity to start over; you lose a wallet, purse, or paperwork that contains your child's Social Security information; there's a break-in at your home; or, a school, doctor's office, or business notifies you that your child's information was affected by a security breach.
Federal Trade Commission. (2012, August). Child identity theft. Retrieved August 16, 2018, from https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/