Stealing Credit From A Baby

from the growing-concerns dept

Wed, Mar 12th 2008 9:39pm — Mike Masnick

With more publicity talking about identity fraud, and more people checking to make sure they haven't been victims of identity fraud scams, apparently the type of identity fraud that's on the rise is taking social security numbers from kids. It's still a small part of the total identity fraud problem, and it's not so much an online phenomenon as most cases involve family members, but it's much more problematic, as it's often not identified until many years later when the kid actually applies for a credit card. For all the data that the big credit firms keep on people, you would think they'd have something about a person's age.

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Filed Under: children, credit agencies, fraud, identity fraud, social security numbers

14 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 12 Mar 2008 @ 11:31pm

But if they knew the person's age . . .
How could someone rack up a huge debt for them for years before anyone finds out?

I'm starting to suspect SOME of the issues with lax security just stem from the card companies lining their own pockets with some of these things.

OOPS, potentially 3 million people's identities are free for the taking!

Even if they sold the info for a dollar a number, they'd make gravy. Then the credit card company can say it was leaked and fire an intern or say they were hacked and fire their IT staff.

And with banks such as Julius Baer . . .
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BIngo, I hit JackPot, 13 Mar 2008 @ 12:06am

Doesnt SSN have name,age & address?

Do banks think they can give a loan/credit card to a guy who has stolen an SSN from a six year old kid? either the bank has a very bad verification team or definitely there's some problem with SSN, not have age & address.
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It Wasnt me, 13 Mar 2008 @ 2:58am

i think age isnt included, cause of age discrimination.
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Kevin, 13 Mar 2008 @ 3:47am

Re:
No. The social security card only has the name and the social security number. The Social Security Administration does have more information, including address and date of birth, but that information isn't publicly available.

The problem is that the social security number is being used for something that it's not intended for, and something that I always thought wasn't legal. Your SSN is only supposed to be used for social security. But because the SSN is supposed to be unique and everyone is supposed to have one, financial institutions, medical providers, and other companies use it to uniquely identify an individual. If you provide a name and SSN to a bank there's little verification that they can do beyond running that SSN through a number of financial systems, credit reporting agencies, and so on to see if there is an existing history. If there isn't an existing history then they pretty much have to assume that the name and number go together, that they are yours (assuming that you have additional identity documents using the same info), and that you just have never applied for credit before. So it's like starting with a clean slate.
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Dee, 13 Mar 2008 @ 4:03am

RE:
My husband actually had a family member acquire a sizable amount of debt in his name before while he was under age. It took a while but we were eventually able to get the matter settled, after the company realized that my husband was not of legal age and that it was someone else using his name.
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Twinrova, 13 Mar 2008 @ 4:18am

Know your credit. Always.
I've worked in the credit industry for 3+ years and I can definitely see identity theft taking over those under the age of 18.

For those who ask "But doesn't the report have a DOB?" Yes, it does, but the actual credit report is RARELY looked at anymore.

Most credit decisions are based on 3 primary factors: The credit score, the number of revolving trade lines (credit cards), and the number of installment trade lines (mortgages, auto loans).

From the RTL and ITL comes the debt-to-income ratio. Too high, and you'll be denied or offered a much higher interest rate (which makes NO sense).

Identity theft has increased by incalculable numbers recently. Some inside the industry believe this number jumps over 300% per year. That's quite a bit.

I try to educate people often and to make sure they understand how important their credit report is, given it follows them for life. So, if you don't mind, I'll do so here.

1) Go to www.freecreditreport.org and obtain your credit report from all 3 bureaus. This is free. If you've recently been denied credit, you're also entitled to the free report.

Note: If you've been to the website within the past year, you'll not qualify for another free report until the year has expired.

2) EXAMINE! EXAMINE! EXAMINE! While most people may not understand how to read a credit report, it is fairly simple once you get the hang of it.

There are 3 sections to validate:
a) Public record header - make sure there are NO liens against you or your home here! This is a common indicator that someone's using your identity.

b) Trade lines - examine them all! You want to pay particular attention to accounts that you do not recognize. While you're there, make damn sure all trade lines report EITHER the High Credit or High Limit amount AND the Balance amount. If not, your credit score is seriously affected by this! Call the issuing company and tell them to report it.

c) MOST IMPORTANT!!!! Inquiries. These are found at the bottom of the credit report and will indicate EVERYONE who has looked at your credit report in the past 2 years. There are two types of inquiries: Prescreen and Full.

Prescreen reports don't contain credit info, but merely returns info about you and a summary of your credit situation (No score is returned nor any info on the credit you have). These are often used by those who send you junk mail, such as credit card offers. While they're ignored in bank loans, too many should be an indication that something isn't right.

Full reports are just that. This is incredibly important because this tells you someone's looking at your credit report. If you didn't apply for credit, you can bet someone else did.
Note: Current relations with creditors may also show up as creditors often refresh the report.

READ THIS PART!
If you suspect any fraud or unrecognized activity on the credit report, contact the bureau immediately for a dispute. This action may take up to 90 days to resolve, but all bureaus must validate the information on the report or remove it. This is per the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Don't waste your time with a user comment on your report. They're ignored, especially with auto-approval systems.

If you live in a state that allows you to lock your credit report, sign up today. Don't waste a single day with this!!!

Thanks for reading and I hope none of you become a victim.
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mkam, 13 Mar 2008 @ 5:31am

Re: Know your credit. Always.
Thanks for the reminder, just checked mine. The real URL is https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp as linked off of the federal trade commission website. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/freereports.shtm . Not the other site that signs you up for that stupid $14.95 credit monitoring unless you opt out at a later date. Nice try Twinrova! Everything else is very accurate. mkam
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FastJack, 13 Mar 2008 @ 5:34am

I have noticed that freecreditreport.com has been trying to play off its similarity to the government-approved site. While it actually is close enough that I've mixed them up in the past, they certainly aren't trying to step out of the public's eye, what with some of the television advertisements they're running nowadays.
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Anonymous Kansas Coward, 13 Mar 2008 @ 10:59am

Re: Know your credit. Always.
Twinrova, thanks for the post. How do I go about seeing if my state allows me to lock my report? Is it typically The State Department Of _________? Thanks again.
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Twinrova, 13 Mar 2008 @ 12:38pm

Re: Re: Know your credit. Always.
Here is a URL (from Equifax) of the latest state options:
http://www.equifax.com/popups/ec_pop_fcra_state_chart.html
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Twinrova, 13 Mar 2008 @ 12:40pm

Re: Re: Know your credit. Always.
Thanks for the correction! :)

I always forget the annual.
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Rekrul, 13 Mar 2008 @ 6:19pm

This is what happens when you force everyone to have a government issued national ID number. It doesn't matter that the law says it isn't, that what a Social Security number is used for today.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2008 @ 11:12am

Re: Re:
The Social Security Administration makes a list available that indicates when a particular series of numbers was issued. While not an absolute check, any merchant that issue credit to someone holding a SSN issued less than 18 years ago is taking a risk unless there is some other method of verifying age.
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dh, 17 Jun 2008 @ 2:49pm

Wow, where do you even start with the issues in this article. How about all credit reports remain locked until there is a verbal verification, rather than leaving it wide open for the identity theivez? Imagine not having a password on your bank website, or leaving your checking account on the front porch at night. That's basically how the credit reporting system works here... Ridiculous. The time, money and effort spent on credit theft is ridiculous.
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