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SALT LAKE CITY -- Federal officials are warning people about a new wave of identity theft. They say companies are selling dormant Social Security numbers, usually belonging to children, for hundreds of dollars. Unfortunately, officials in Utah say there isn't a lot parents can do to stop this.
In Utah, state officials say stolen or compromised Social Security numbers make up roughly 80 percent of all identity theft cases.
Related:
AP IMPACT: New ID theft targets kids' SS numbers
The latest form of identity theft doesn't depend on stealing your Social Security number. Now thieves are targeting your kid's number long before the little one even has a bank account.Employees inside the state attorney general's office say they get between 15 and 50 incidents reported every month. Sadly for children, they're part of a demographic that doesn't have many options to protect itself from identity theft.
State officials say there are many cases of people taking a child's Social Security number for either building their credit or getting a job.
"I know of at least a couple thousand -- I think the [actual] number is higher. I think it's under reported," says Scott Morrill, with the Utah Attorney General's Office.
Morrill says TransUnion is the only credit monitoring company that offers a service to fight this kind of identity theft. [CLICK HERE for more information on TransUnion's child identity theft program]
"Parents or guardians can go online and provide them their child's information, and that company will research their database to see if there is any information on a child; and if there is, they will help clear up that information," Morrill says.
But that's pretty much as far as parents can go to correct any potentially illegal use of their child's Social Security number, for now. Parents are not allowed to get a credit score for their kids or freeze their children's credit.
"TransUnion, Equifax and Experian do not collect information on minor children," Morrill says.
One of the best ways a parent can protect their child's identity from being misused is to not give out personal information to anyone.
Morrill says there are many groups -- like sports clubs, doctors' offices or even school districts -- that ask for a child's Social Security number. He says parents should avoid giving this number out whenever possible, and they should ask several questions about why the organization wants it.
"I would certainly ask, ‘Why do you need this social, and what are you going to do with it? How long are you going to keep it? When you're finished using it, how are you going to eliminate it from your system?'" Morrill says.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
