Utahns Concerned About Child Identity Theft
Story posted 2012.01.31 at 07:35 PM MDT
But now, parents in Utah have a first-of-its-kind tool to fight child identity theft.
Child identity theft affects more than 140,000 children each year in the United States, according to a study by ID Analytics.
What makes child ID theft so difficult to stop is that the typical means of detection aren't effective.
"We are literally in the 1,000's in Utah alone on kids who have been compromised," said Richard Hamp with Utah's Attorney General's office.
Even more troubling, most parents don't realize their children's identities have been stolen until the crime has gone on for years, usually when a child applies for financial aid or other credit as they enter college.
Utah's attorney general's office teamed up with TransUnion, one of the three major credit reporting bureaus, to provide parents a way to protect their child's identity.
The program is called Child Identity Protection or CIP.
"This is a groundbreaking public/private partnership dedicated to specifically protecting children from having their good names and future credit ruined by identity thieves," Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said.
Through a secure website, parents can enroll their children in the program, which essentially ties the child's name and age with their Social Security number.
Once the child's information is registered, TransUnion will search its database to make sure someone hasn't already used the child's Social Security number fraudulently. If so, TransUnion promises to take steps to delete the incorrect files.
For those identities that haven't been compromised, TransUnion will add them to a database of high-risk Social Security numbers. This will require potential creditors to take additional steps to verify identity before granting loans and other lines of credit.
TransUnion will keep the child's identity in the database until the child's 17th birthday.
"I was completely shocked," said Jennifer Andrushko about finding out her son's identity had been stolen. "I was just left wondering how this could even happen to us."
Andrushko's son was only 3-years-old when she discovered the fraudulent activity on his Social Security number.
An undocumented worker had been using her son's identity to gain employment. The fraud started five years before her son was even born.
"Just feeling very helpless," said Andrushko about the situation. "I was emotionally sick."
After contacting the credit bureaus, Social Security Administration and police, Andrushko realized there were no agencies equipped to fix the problem.
Two years after the discovery and Andrushko says the fraud continues and the identity thieves continue to try to use her son's Social Security number.
The program will only protect children against identity theft for creditors that use TransUnion. The other two credit reporting agencies, Experian and Equifax, are not participating in the program.
Also, Utah's program does not protect against fraudulent use of Social Security numbers for employment verification, such as the case with the Andrushko family. The Attorney General's office Tuesday called on the Social Security Administration to toughen its system to protect the identities of children.
Utah's program is free to use. To access the secure site go to: https://webmail.allstate.com/owa/,DanaInfo=.awfdpenrwzxnKmyz79r.xTx-9,SSL+redir.aspx?C=dc2d4d694f6942bdbfd8b3448917fa3f&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.idtheft.utah.gov.
(Copyright 2012 Four Points Media)
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