A five-year-old child owns a house and has a mortgage. A ten-year-old owes back-payments on his Ferrari loan. These are strange tales, but that doesn’t make them any less real. These kids have become victims of child identity theft, meaning that their financial prospects are in trouble before they’re even old enough to worry about them. This causes untold problems for parents as they try to unravel what happened. The following will shed some light on how to prevent child identity theft so no other youngster will face an uncertain future.

Phoenix, AZ -- (SBWire) -- 12/12/2012 --Many parents are not aware of it when their child’s personal information has been illegally taken until much later in the child’s life. When a teen is ready to investigate colleges and needs to fill out financial assistance forms, he may be denied the help he needs because he has outstanding debts. It doesn’t really matter if the debts are actually his; what matters is that they are in his name. Looking to Protect your children Against Identity Theft, Send Request for More Ways

Children are victims of identity theft 5 times more than their adult counterparts are. It’s bad enough when a grown-up’s data is stolen; they at least know how to find out what to do about it. Kids don’t really even understand what it means to have one’s identity pilfered; they certainly cannot begin to grasp the often-complicated process of disputing the damage done by this crime. Here are some smart tips to help prevent the theft of a child’s identity so it doesn’t become an issue later in his life.

To avoid child identity theft, make sure that a child’s profile on a social networking site contains no personal information such as family name or a birth date. Install effective spyware and anti-virus programs on the family computer and keep an eye on a child’s Internet use and e-mails. Also, never, ever give out a child’s Social Security number (SSN) unless absolutely necessary. The only places that require the SSN are schools. Recreation centers and other organizations do not need it, so refuse to give it out to them. If a relative or family friend asks for the child’s SSN to open a monetary gift fund for that child, request documentation of the account before handing the number over. Shred all documents that may have a child’s personal information on it and don’t carry his SSN in a purse or wallet. To cover all bases, check the child’s credit score every few years. If the child’s rating is low, look into what happened right away and dispute any fraudulent activity with the reporting bureaus.

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