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News You Can Use
The following article is just one of the many dangers children face when they enter the world of "cyberspace."
Report: Identity thefts involving children increasing
Source: Portland Press Herald (Associated Press)
Thursday, January 26th, 2006
They may not be savvy about personal information and could easily fall prey
while surfing the Internet
Washington - The parents had no idea there was a bank account in their 12-year old daughter's name.
They didn't find out until after a con artist opened credit card accounts and then declared bankruptcy.
The Virgina case is an example of a troubling trend in identity theft: the targeting of children.
In a report released Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission said identity theft complaints involving youngsters
under 18 have nearly doubled since 2003 - up from 6,312 to more than 11,600 last year.
While they make up a small percentage of the total ID theft complaints, the FTC's Jay Miller says young people
are attractive targets because they may not be as savvy as adults about safeguarding personal information and could
easily fall prey while surfing the Internet.
"Identify thieves don't see age as a hurdle," said Miller, who works with law enforcement to combat identity theft.
"All they want is as much information about a person as they can get, regardless of age. And believe me, they will find
a way to use it."
And they have, says Sue Houk with the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center.
Houk's friend was stunned to learn that someone had fraudulently opened a bank account in her 12-year old daughter's
name. The culprit then opened about a half-dozen credit card accounts, declared bankruptcy, had it written off and left
the youngster with a mess of legal hassles.
"It's an easy thing to do. Once they get a valid Social Security number, they just to to town," said Houk, the center's
acting chief executive.
The most victimized age group for identity theft was the 18-to-29 category. The FTC said that category registered 29
percent of the complaints - more than 70,200.
This is the sixth straight year that identity theft has topped the agency's annual report on consumer fraud compaints. The
number of complaints filed with the FYTC increased from 246,847 in 2004 to over 255,500 last year.
The most common form of identity theft was credit card fraud, which accounted for 25 percent of the complaints. It was followed
by phone, or utilities fraud at 18 percent, bank fraud at 17 percent and employment fraud at 12 percent.
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