Childrens Identity Theft is on the rise!

As children head back to school, it is a good time to remember that parents should be very careful when they share their children's Social Security numbers.

Criminals are increasingly searching for random Social Security numbers. Once they find them, they cross-check these numbers against other databases to see if the numbers have been used to obtain credit.

If they haven't, thieves are selling these unblemished numbers—often calling them credit profile, or credit protection, numbers, or CPNs—for anywhere between a few hundred dollars to as much as several thousand dollars a piece.

Many times these inactive numbers are tied to children or long-time prison inmates.

Since children won't be applying for credit to buy a car or receive a credit card for years to come, those who purchase these numbers can use them to obtain phony lines of credit and rack up debt, sometimes for years.

The Associated Press reported that the Identity Theft Resource Center, an organization that offers counseling and resources to identify theft victims, has seen a notable jump in the number of children who are victims of identity theft in the last year. They estimate the number of cases rose by 9 percent in the latest month.

Javelin Strategy, a research group that studies identity theft, estimates that 5 percent of consumers who are a victim a data breach indicated that their children's information was used fraudulently.
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