It’s amazing, the things I think of now as a mother that would never have otherwise crossed my mind. Now I see danger everywhere, any shady looking person is a potential creep looking to harm my little boy. One place I hadn’t previously considered as a potential for harm was my child’s social security number and his credit profile.
Apparently, thieves target children’s social security numbers for identity theft… that blows my mind. But, if you think of it, it makes sense: it could easily be two decades before this child ever has reason to access their own credit report – buying a car, getting a credit card, etc. That gives a potential thief quite a bit of time to make use of a stolen social security number for fraudulent usage and be long gone by the time it is discovered.
So, even as an infant, it is important to have identity theft protection. Thankfully, there are some companies out there like IdentityHawk that specialize in protecting us from the creeps! We can still do our own part, too, it protecting our babe’s identity: be on the lookout for things like offers for credit cards in the mail in your child’s name, protect his social security number and for God’s sake, keep adequate spyware protection on your computer – there’s no need to offer your child’s information up as a donation! With a little bit of vigilance, and a little bit of help, we should hopefully be able to safeguard our children’s identity until they can do it themselves.
Have you thought about the fact that your children might be victim’s of identity theft? How do you plan to protect them?
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As parents, we are called on to protect our children from many things. Even before they are born we practice good preventative care. We do everything in our power to prevent complications and to give them the best chance to grow up healthy, happy and in harmony with the world around them. That is our responsibility, our purpose and our joy.
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