Child Social Security Number Theft - How Thieves Steal Prior To Birth, Destructive Implications

Most interesting portion of the report is the ability of ID thieves to 'guess' birth date. It also demonstrates a case (and how it occurs) of a child born into a compromised social security number. The report also discusses why child identities are so sought after by identity thieves.

According to the Utah AG's office most SSN theft is driven by illegal immigrants who need it to work (note: the report does NOT indicate whether or not the thieves are illegal immigrants). The rest of the theft would likely be made up from deadbeat parents using their child's (or other stolen SSN) to avoid wage garnishment, fugitives avoiding capture, and 'traditional' ID thieves. This again demonstrates how critical employer (through such means as E-Verify) and credit issuer identity verification of applicants is to preventing much of the identity theft and virtually eliminating child ID theft.

A two year old has credit card debt and declared bankruptcy, a nine year old has defaulted on utility bills, and a teenager has $750,000 in debt. The report also demonstrates that once a number is stolen the are frequently sold to multiple buyers (thus several individuals will use the number). However, the credit check only shows if thieves have used the number for credit. If the number is used for employment or medical services, the breach still carries serious and destructive (including potentially life-threatening) implications.

Original Today show report can be found here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42997608/ns/today-parenting/t/stop-id-thieves-stealing-your-kids-credit/