We’ve had lots of stories on identity theft lately. That’s because it’s happening to a lot of people. People whose credit card information has been stolen (ChoicePoint, Lexis Nexis). People whose college admissions and academic records have been hacked (Stanford, UCSD).
What all of these people have in common, besides having their personal information compromised, is that they were adults who had such personal information such as social security numbers and credit cards.
Of course, as any parent who files taxes (ahem, you all do, right?) will tell you, twenty or more years ago the IRS decided that in order to get your deduction for your children, you had to register them for a social security number. Meaning that thousands, maybe millions, of children have had social security numbers since before their first birthday.
So it really shouldn’t come as any surprise to learn that a two-year-old has been the victim of identity theft. Not once, but twice. Once for each of her tender years.
The mother of little Jabriona Terry, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, discovered the theft when she found her daughter’s name listed in the telephone book. And that wasn’t the first time. The first time was when someone used Jabronia’s social security number on his tax return to declare her as a dependent, to get himself a bigger refund.
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Explained Ft. Wayne Deputy Chief of Police, Karl Niblick, “Social Security numbers have become a form of currency, sometimes every bit as good as a fistful of money to buy drugs. The drug dealer can sell the name and number or use it himself for anything from utility service to credit cards.”
Experts advise that the best way to detect, if not protect against, identity theft is to review your financial and other records on a regular basis. Credit reports are a good source of such information, as are Internet searches for your own personal information.
Wary consumers may also be interested in identity theft insurance from Allstate and this study (and more insurance) relating to identity theft from Chubb.
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