When we think of identity theft, we usually relate to it as an adult having their wallet stolen or a website with our confidential information being hacked. In all truth it is not adults who are most vulnerable to identity theft; it is our teenagers who are at risk.
Think about it: when an adult has his or her wallet stolen, we immediately call in about every single card that was in there – credit card, driver’s license, social security number, insurance – and alert the necessary companies that we are no longer in possession of these cards. I’d like to think that adults generally keep pretty good tabs on where their wallet is at any given time, too. Teenagers, however, have far more pressing issues (or so they think) and tend to be quite a bit more forgetful, not to mention they do not realize the harm of having their identity stolen.
Why Teens are increasingly victims
Here’s another reason why teens are increasingly becoming the victims of identity theft: teenagers have little to no credit and have a spotless record. All someone needs is your teenager’s social security number, driver’s license number, or any other piece of identity-sensitive information (such as a passport) and anyone can open up limitless accounts under his or her name. The thief eventually stops paying these bills they’ve racked up, and your teens credit rating hits rock bottom.
Think it won’t happen? Think again. Most teenagers freely give out their locker combinations to their friends, who then may very well pass that locker combination onto some OTHER friend, and, well, you see how the chain goes. Though locker combos are usually given just so a buddy can innocently grab a text book or some other item, not everyone out there has good intentions.
Kids also often bring their wallets to the gym change rooms and cafeteria at lunch time to buy something, and often are rather careless about it. They’ll leave it on the cafeteria table with friends who may take things out of your child’s wallet and unintentionally misplace them (case in point: a family member of mine left his wallet in the cafeteria, only to find $40 stolen and an “IOU for $40” written on a napkin in its place).
How do we protect our children?
So how do we protect our kids? First you have to make them care. Explain to your child just how important their credit is, and how bad credit can leave them homeless, carless, and even cell phone-less (that one will really hit home the hardest). When at all possible, advise them to keep any piece of sensitive information at home in a drawer (i.e. having your social security number on you at all times is not necessary). If they are going to give out their locker combo, they must have their wallet on their person at all times.
It doesn’t stop just at peeking at what’s inside a wallet. Teens are mostly the target for online phishing and identity theft, too. What you must do is install a quality anti-virus software and block all pop-ups to stop these fake ads from luring your teen to click on them. Next, explain to your child that they should never click on any pop-ups or advertisements online without your consent. Lastly, educate them – and yourself – on how to use file sharing websites properly. Teach them how to share only basic files (such as mp3s) and not ALL files on their computer. Otherwise, they are essentially leaving their front door wide open for all to come in and visit.
photo by Jonathan Natiuk
