Cybercriminals Target Children for Identity Theft
Yes, you read that right. Children have been, and continue to be, targets of cybercriminals for identity theft. You may be thinking, “What do they have to steal? Monopoly money?” Sure, many children (sans the viral TikTok stars and YouTube wonders) don’t have assets, let alone, a credit profile, to be stolen. But, they do have an identity, a social security number, and a record that could be tarnished well-before they even turn 18 years old.
A national poll showed that 1 in 3 children ages 7-9 years old and 1 in 2 children ages 10-12 use social media apps.² Because of this high usage rate, monitoring their social media accounts should be made a priority since children often (unknowingly) overshare information, placing them at higher risk for safety threats and identity theft.
So, what does this mean for children? What does this mean for their parents?
U.S. families effected by child identity fraud end up devoting a tremendous amount of time to resolve the fraud and (collectively) spend close to $1 billion dollars! ¹ Broken down, that is one out of every 50 children, costing individual families over $1,000 on average.³
Consider why children are targeted: Children have a blank credit profile (i.e. blank slate) making them great candidates for cybercriminals to open fraudulent accounts.
With a steadily increasing number of children on social media and remote learning, their identities are at higher risk than ever before. That is why protecting their identities should begin before they are adults!
Fortunately, IDSeal provides a simple solution for helping protect the identities of minor children. With Platinum Plus subscriptions, you can add up to 10 children to be monitored on your account.
What does that child monitoring include? Check it out:
- Child SSN Tracker
- Child Digital Spy Dark Web Monitoring
- Social Security Monitoring
- Child Bank Account, Credit/Debit Card Monitoring
- Child Medical ID Monitoring
- Child Social Media Monitoring
- Child Identity Restoration
- Child Identity Theft Insurance
Children need protection from physical dangers just as much as they do from digital dangers. Protect them while you can. To learn more about the identity theft and device protection features included in Platinum Plus subscription, visit our Platinum Plus product features page.
Note: Whether you have children or not, this is something you should know and share with people who do have children.
¹ https://www.javelinstrategy.com/research/child-identity-fraud-web-deception-and-loss
² https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/931448
It is not possible to prevent all identity theft or cybercrime, or to effectively monitor all activity on the internet. IDSeal cannot and does not guarantee complete protection against cybercrime or identity theft. IDSeal does not monitor the activities of all financial institutions, or all activities of any particular financial institution.
IDSeal Pro-Tec provides tools and resources to protect your data and identity, but no one can prevent all cybercrime or identity theft. Your own efforts are important to prevent unauthorized access to your personal information.