Child identity theft: how do I keep my kids’ personal data safe?
Why is kids’ personal information in high demand, how do criminals steal it, and what can parents do to help prevent child identity theft?
Why are youngsters’ details so popular among the criminal fraternity? A big part of the attraction is the fact that children typically don’t have bad credit ratings. That means the fraudster has greater confidence that their attempts to monetize stolen identity data will not be blocked by banks or government agencies. The victim themself is also less likely to notice that their identity has been stolen, because—even if they have one – kids won’t be primed to regularly check their bank account or credit report. Scams may go unnoticed for years.
Another popular technique which lends itself well to child identity data is synthetic fraud. This is when a scammer combines personal data from several sources: some real, some fake. A brand-new identity is thus created using that all-important child data to ensure a clean credit history.
Find out what parents can do to help prevent child identity theft in our latest blog post at esetngblog.com