LifeLock Blog

A new policy in Maine schools has been designed to use a students social security number to track students K-12 progress through college and into the workforce. The program’s goal is to learn more about what the schools can do to help their students be successful. The information gathered could be used to develop programs and policies that could help accomplish their goal.

The Maine Civil Liberties Union wants to let parents know that the program is optional and could increase the risk of identity theft. The MCLU thought the department of education didn’t do a very good job of informing people of this.  So this week the department of education sent out letters to school districts throughout the state informing school officials they must inform parents that they are not required to submit their children’s social security numbers. Many schools from around the US have stopped using SSN as a student’s identification number. Many of these schools are colleges especially after a student successfully sued an university for violation of privacy and illegal use of social security numbers.

I am not sure what exactly this new policy is going to accomplish but it seems it could do a lot more damage than good. I assume they need the Students SSN so they can track the jobs you obtain and the SSN is the only way to do that without implementing a whole new system. I know if I was a parent in Maine I wouldn’t give my child’s SSN to this program. It seems unnecessary and could lead to an identity theft if the system storing all the information was ever breached. A database with thousands of children’s SSN would be a identity theft gold mine.

A CPN is a Credit Privacy Numbers, a nine-digit numbers that act as a social security number. It’s designed to protect the borrowing and personal history of the person holding the CPN. Ever since Congress made the law that legalizes the numbers it has been viewed as a loophole for several reasons.

Identity Thieves have been selling CPNS of children and because they are not SSN and are only used to obtain credit for some reason it’s not illegal to sell them quite yet. A person is responsible for credit applied for using either their SSN or CPN so when thieves sell people CPNS that aren’t their own it’s going on someone else’s credit. I assume that using someone else’s CPN is illegal but actually selling them isn’t from what I have read.

This could be a big problem in the future, but I’m assuming that a law will popup that will fix the loophole and make the selling of CPNs illegal. For now if you are in need of a CPN don’t purchase it online. Contact an attorney and have them apply for one though the federal government’s social security office.

Utah has a big problem with criminals or illegal immigrants concealing their identity by using someone else’s SSN to obtain a job. Children are a big target for this because they don’t work themselves so wouldn’t notice someone else filing taxes and collecting returns using their name.

Utah Governor, Gary Herbert, signed a bill that would require businesses that have 15 or more employees to verify the identity of all new hires. He as going to schedule a special session to amend the bill to make it optional for the first year, but has decided to cancel the special session and leave the bill alone. The bill is supported by the public and legislators, who want it left alone or even strengthened at the special session. Because of the support of the public and legislators the Governor and Businesses were forced to lay off and cancel the special session to prevent even stricter rules from being added.

I think this is great news for Utah. They have the opportunity to prevent to not only prevent identity theft of children and adults alike, but also the opportunity to prevent sexual predators and criminals from concealing their identity as well. This is a big step to preventing Identity theft in the job market, which is a good thing for all people not trying to do something illegal.

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.

Your four-year-old might be too young to drive a car, but that doesn’t mean he never bought one. Unfortunately, now his credit is so bad, even long after he is old enough to drive a car, he won’t be able to buy another one.

That’s the beauty of child identity theft; a thief can use a child’s identity for years before anyone notices there’s a problem, and by that time, the thief is gone and the trail is cold. The Federal Trade Commission estimates there are 400,000 victims of child identity theft every year. Other sources claim there are many more victims whose cases just haven’t come to light yet.

How could it happen?

Think of how many times you’ve been asked for, and given, your child’s Social Security number: the pediatrician’s office, the day care center, the emergency room, his elementary, junior high and high school, athletic coordinators, after-school programs…any of them could have failed to protect your child’s personal information. Or an employee in an office somewhere could have written it down and sold it.

Your child could have given it out online or over the phone.

Sadly, child identity theft is usually perpetrated by a parent or another member of the child’s family. Parents who get in a financial jam take out credit cards in their kids’ names to make ends meet. Thinking they’ll be able to pay the money back before the child needs it, their identity theft can be rationalized as a victimless crime.

The warning signs

Credit card offers in the mail may seem like common fare to you, but if your child starts receiving them, it could mean trouble. Credit card offers are made to people who already use credit; if your youngster is being offered a credit card, it probably means there’s a credit account in his name, somewhere.

Worse yet, bill collectors may start dunning your child by mail or phone. Don’t assume it’s a simple clerical error. Ask that they send you all pertinent documentation.

Request your child’s credit report. The only acceptable response is “no record exists.” Any other response means somebody has used your child’s identity to obtain credit.

How can you prevent child identity theft?

Don’t give out your child’s Social Security number just because someone asks for it; always ask if it’s essential. If it is required information, ask how the agency or company that’s using it will protect if.

Don’t carry Social Security cards in your wallet—yours or your child’s.

Don’t let your child have or give out his Social Security number until he’s old enough to understand how important it is. Until that time, if he asks for it, find out who needs it and why, and then contact them yourself.

Request your child’s credit report at least once a year.