January 28th is National Data Privacy Day and SafetyWeb.com has 5 key tips to help protect your children from this devastating crime.
One of the biggest problems parents have while protecting and keeping tabs on their children's identity is that most people between birth and the age of 18 don't have credit cards or bank accounts. So, identity thefts can go undetected for years. A recent study found that as many as 140,000 people under the age of 18 in the U.S. are victims of identity theft each year.
While there is no sure fire way to stop thieves from attacking, there are some simple steps parents can take to work towards keeping their children from becoming a statistic and adding to this already growing number of victims.
1. Keep your Child's Social Security Card Safe - Store your child's social security card in a secure place, such as a safety deposit box or a safe at home. Do not carry it around and risk it being lost.
2. Shred Documents - Shred any documents that ask for your child's personal information, such as a social security number before you throw them out.
3. Educate your Kids on Social Media - With Facebook and Twitter all the rage, take the opportunity to talk to your child about posting too much personal information online. Make sure they are especially cautious when it comes to posting phone numbers, addresses, and email information.
4. Stay Informed - Require your children to ask permission before registering for any site and tell them to ask your permission before downloading anything online. This way you can make sure sites are safe and secure and you can also decide if the applications and software your kids are downloading are legitimate.
5. Discuss Identity Theft - Talk with your children about identity theft. If you teach them to be prepared and be safe both in public and online, they will be better prepared to deal with any suspicious activities.
View Comments (2)
I still can't understand why people are this way!! If they can work this hard to do these things, they could apply themselves to something useful and do well. I am tired of this identity theft and scammers everywhere! They should be prosecuted and there should be some sort of police on the internet. My site was just hacked rj_angel_house and it is closed again!!! They just changed my password to my google site! I changed it again! It is frustrating to have this identity theft going on. Poor kids! This would be horrible to have this on your record without not even knowing it! Thanks for the review of this topic. I am very emotional on this subject and laws need to be changed to deter people from doing this.
I know what you mean Rita! It's terrible that people have to act this way and it seems that crimes involving fraud are at an all time high because the internet makes data so accessible. I never thought to check my 3-year-old daughter's credit history, but these tips have opened my eyes to the fact that it is indeed necessary.