What Parents Need to Know About Child Identity Theft

The letter I opened on the way back from the mailbox the other day began, “We regret to inform you…”

There can never be a good ending to that sentence.  My first tip-off to the bad news inside was the information on the outside of the envelope. I didn’t recognize the return address and the letter itself was “to the parents of...”

I only expect those letters from school.

It turns out that a multi-state pediatric health system noticed a missing filing cabinet last month. They don’t know when it went missing and they are unsure if it is lost or stolen. They were writing to inform us that our child’s medical records - including Social Security number, date of birth and health insurance information - was on one of the computer back-up tapes in that cabinet.

They said they were sorry.

To make it up to the people affected, they are offering one free year of unlimited access to a credit bureau so adults can monitor their financial records.

Apparently, it’s not so easy if the person affected is a minor. A child's personal information is much more appealing to identity thieves because it may be many years before anyone notices that something is wrong. A young adult could apply for a college loan and find out that he is hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt because a thief has been taking out loans with his personal information for years. A teenager could apply for a driver's license only to find out she can't get one because her social security number is linked to a criminal record.

See, there really is never a good ending to the sentence, "We regret to inform you..."

It turns out there are a few things parents can do:

• Keep an eye out for credit card offers that may come in the mail in the child’s name.
• Be suspicious if you try to open a financial account for your child and find that one already exists.
• Ask questions if a financial institution denies your request to open a financial account in your child’s name.
• Check with the three major credit bureaus (Transunion, Equifax, and Experian) to find out if your child already has a credit report. This would indicate that someone did a credit check using the child’s information.

Ironically, I've discovered that this week is National Protect Your Identity Week.

We're trying - and I know where my filing cabinets are.