A lost wallet is one of the most common sources of information for identity thieves. But, in this classic stupid criminal story, a wallet left behind at a grocery store resulted in what a federal judge called one of the most extensive identification fraud cases in his career.

Jade Ingalls, 29, did a little shopping at a Pensacola Winn Dixie grocery store back in February, and tried to pay with a check. Maybe he got flustered when his check was refused, but for whatever reason, he left his wallet behind when he left the store.

A store employee looking for contact information in the wallet found five IDs, all bearing Ingalls’ photo, but each bearing a different name. Time to call in the Sheriff’s Office. (more…)

You buy the best car seat. You diligently track vaccination schedules. You warn them about strangers who offer candy. But, because of people like Craig Curtis, your child needs more protection.

Curtis, 36, was convicted in December 2008 for organizing a scheme to steal children’s identities, and use their Social Security numbers to buy luxury cars and expensive townhouses in Houston. Most of the townhouses were in foreclosure within a year of being purchased.

He was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in federal prison for wire fraud and an additional two years for aggravated identity theft. He must also pay $2,085,396 in restitution to lenders, and will serve three more years of supervised release when he gets out of prison.

But, none of that is going to repair the damage done to children whose credit records now show they bought houses that ended up in foreclosure. Presumably, the young victims’ families know now about the ID theft, but correcting the credit files can take years, and in some cases, the errors may never be fully resolved.

Typically, children don’t have credit records. But, the first time a credit application is made using a child’s Social Security number, the file is created, and whatever birth date is used on the application becomes a permanent part of the file.

According to a recent study by Javelin Strategy and Research, 5% of children have at least one credit report using their Social Security number; among those 5%, the children have an average of $12,779 in fraudulent or wrongly assigned debt.

LifeLock was the first identity theft protection service to provide protection for children. Visit LifeLock.com to learn more about their services. Enroll using the LifeLock promotion code DEFENSE and protect your children for as little as $2.25 a month and get 30 days of free protection.

The Identity Theft Resource Center released their sixth annual retrospective report on ID theft this week, “Identity Theft: The Aftermath 2008.”

This year’s report provides a lot of pertinent information lacking in previous years’ reporting. For instance, this year’s report broke 0ut subcategories for loans taken out by identity thieves, revealing that the most common type of loan taken out was mortgages or second mortgages (33%).

This most recent report also provides new information about medical identity theft and how victims discovered the theft. In nearly all cases, victims discovered the thefts when they received bills or calls from bill collectors for medical services they never received. More alarming, though, is that 33% discovered the crime when they found out there was someone else’s medical information in their records.

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) estimated last year that in every schoolroom there is at least one child victim of identity theft. Sadly, the crime probably won’t be discovered for many years, and the younger the victim, the longer the crime will go undetected, which explains why 17% of child identity theft crimes begin before the victim is even a year old. The perpetrators of child identity theft are most often children’s parents, stepparents or other family members.

In light of the new information in the ITRC report, you owe it to yourself and your family to learn more about how LifeLock protects their members. Visit LifeLock.com for more information. When you’re ready to enroll, use the LifeLock promo code DEFENSE and to get the absolute lowest price available.

Several hard drives containing the personal information of 40,000 Arizona children were stolen from a public storage unit in Phoenix.

Families who applied for services from the Arizona Department of Economic Security’s Early Intervention Program have received letters warning them that their children may be at risk of identity theft.

Names, addresses, phone numbers and children’s birth dates for all the families referred to the program over the past few years were on the stolen hard drives. If the families applied for and received services from the program, their Social Security numbers, insurance information and information about their children’s disabilities were also on the stolen hard drive.

The program provides support services to families with young children who have disabilities or developmental delays.

Because other storage units in the area were also broken into and robbed, DES spokeswoman Liz Barker Alvarez said they don’t think the DES hard drives were the target of the theft. The thieves stole several articles of furniture and electronics from the other units not used by DES.

Official also said the hard drive was password protected, making the sensitive information harder to access.

The identities of a half million children are stolen every year, according to a recent study by the Identity Theft Resource Center. Identity thieves target young children because it usually takes several years before the crime is detected—usually when the child is old enough to begin applying for a first job, a car loan or a student loan for college.

Consumer advocates want every school child to learn about preventing identity theft. And, while the uninitiated might think that’s a little extreme, Zach Friesen isn’t one of them.

Friesen was 17 when he discovered someone had used his identity to buy a $40,000 houseboat. Friesen was 7 years old and just mastering a two-wheeler when the purchase was made. Neither he nor his mother know how his personal information was obtained. They suspect it might have originated with a visit to the pediatrician’s office and a request to supply the boy’s Social Security number.

The identity theft was brought to light when Friesen was turned down for a student loan and a job because of his disastrous credit history. He spent the next 10 years working to clear up errors in his financial records and credit report. He is now a spokesman for LifeLock identity theft protection, and tells his story every chance he gets.

The recent push for identity theft education comes on the heels of a first-ever report on child identity theft. According to the research conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research, one in five children – that’s at least one child in every classroom — is already an identity theft victim, though most probably won’t learn of their victimization until they’re much older.