How do you protect your child's identity?
Guard his/her Social Security number. Don't carry Social Security Cards and don't enter Social Security Numbers on school or medical office forms.
Tell your child never to give their Security Security Number to anyone. Explain that if someone asks for it, or they are asked to fill out a form that requests this information, they should not share it and they should tell you about the request immediately.
Be suspicious of mail addressed to your child coming from collection agencies, financial institutions, credit card companies.
Tell children who use the Internet not to post personal information on a personal web page or social networking page, eg. MySpace, Facebook. Have a frank discussion with your child about exactly what constitutes personal information. Identity thieves and other online criminals may visit a young person's page on several occasions, each time picking up information from your child's postings or blog, including photos of the child, friend's names, school name, address, birthdate, sports team, upcoming social plans, vacations, etc. They can use this information to try to contact your child, assume your child's identity on or offline, or for other unauthorized use.
Tell your child never to give their Security Security Number to anyone. Explain that if someone asks for it, or they are asked to fill out a form that requests this information, they should not share it and they should tell you about the request immediately.
Be suspicious of mail addressed to your child coming from collection agencies, financial institutions, credit card companies.
Tell children who use the Internet not to post personal information on a personal web page or social networking page, eg. MySpace, Facebook. Have a frank discussion with your child about exactly what constitutes personal information. Identity thieves and other online criminals may visit a young person's page on several occasions, each time picking up information from your child's postings or blog, including photos of the child, friend's names, school name, address, birthdate, sports team, upcoming social plans, vacations, etc. They can use this information to try to contact your child, assume your child's identity on or offline, or for other unauthorized use.
