Are our Teens Vulnerable to Online Identity Theft?

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Are our Teens Vulnerable to Online Identity Theft?

By Paul Rushing | July 29, 2007

I recently attended my 18 year old son’s high school graduation and the opening speaker really put in perspective how much time our teens spend online. She basically did a roll call of the sites that the teens activly participate in and I watched the young adults nod in agreement.

With sites like MySpace, YouTube and Live Journal our teens are connected to others all over the country and the world and this makes them especially vulnerable to online Identity Theft. Unfortunately these young people in the prime of their life are not educated about Identity Theft. With young people having no credit it gives Identity Thieves a blank slate to work with.

Here are some basic tips to help your teen be secure online and prevent identity theft:

Keep birth certificates and social security cards in a safe place.
Do not give personal information over the phone or internet unless you know the company or organization you are dealing with.
For older teens, check your credit report prior to applying for student loans or first apartment. How unfortunate it would be for them to discover that they are victims of Identity Theft when they first need their credit.
If you are heading to college do not let them make your student id number the same as your Social Security Number or any part of it.
If you receive an email about student loans, bank accounts or any other financial transaction with a request for more information call the company directly before submitting anything online. Most companies will not ask you to verify personal information online if you have an established relationship with them.

Family members happen to be the biggest abuser of our children’s identity. Because we trust family members and care takers with our children’s physical safety does not mean we should allow them to have their sensitive personal information, like their Social Security Number. I have seen on many occasions where young people have negative credit from utility collections on their credit report where a family member used their Social Security Number to acquire these services. Just as we need to teach our children to be stewards of their personal information we need to be overly cautious with it. We don’t need little Johnny hating aunt Sally forever because she got a cell phone using his Social Security Number.

Another good proactive way to help our children and teens in protecting their Identity and their financial future is to enroll them in Life Lock Identity theft protection. The cost to enroll your children is only $25 a year or $2.50 a month. This program will help make them more aware of Identity Theft and provide up to $1,000,000.00 in protection if their identity is ever stolen. The cost is minimal compared to the disappointment that our young people will have when they try to use credit for the first time to only find that they are a victim of identity theft.