Child ID Theft Can Go Unnoticed for Years

Some experts fear child identity theft is under-reported because victimized youngsters often do not discover the crime for years — until they are young adults applying for a driver's license, college loan or a first credit card.

"We can have a ton of kids who've been victims of identify theft and don't even know it," said Linda Foley, co-executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego.

And when the perpetrator is a family member, children and young adults may hesitate to report the crime, not wanting to get Dad or Cousin Johnny into trouble.

"They will think, 'Am I a bad child for reporting them to the police? Maybe it's easier just to pay it off, so no one hears about it but me,' " Foley said. "The complications can be very profound depending on who the perpetrator was, when the person finds out and what the circumstances are."

An Often Intimate Crime

Unlike adults, children don't leave trails of personal information that can be lifted by hackers from databases or thieves rooting through garbage cans. Instead, children are usually victimized by adults with access to their fledgling identities: their Social Security numbers and/or birth certificates.

Perpetrators might be strangers who work at a health clinic, insurance company or school, any place that requires access to a child's personal information. Illegal aliens may purchase a child's information from traffickers who target youngsters particularly because it will take years before the crime is noticed.

Sadly, though, children are often victimized by people they know well, such as family and close friends with bad credit or suspended licenses who may see a new beginning for themselves in the juvenile's pristine record.

"It's often a family member or someone who knows the child," said Jim Vaules, fraud consultant for LexisNexis Risk Management and a former FBI special agent. "Most newborns are getting Social Security numbers. The person will assume the ID of the youngster for purposes of getting a clean record."

Young adults are particularly at risk, experts say, because more people have access to their information. Amy Gergely, now a spokeswoman for Intersections Inc., a Chantilly, Va.-based company that provides consumers with credit monitoring and protection services, was herself a victim, just before her 18th birthday.