ID Theft and Your Children
Most people believe that identity theft is an adult phenomenon. We simply refuse to believe that our kids can be at risk for this particularly insidious crime. But in this new world of constant sharing, we need to think about identity theft the way we think about other threats to our kids.
Until our kids can swim, it makes sense to fence off the pool. This is the way we have to regard identity theft: we should watch over our kids until we know they are old enough to take care of themselves.
But looking after our kids’ identities isn’t so simple, particularly when we start to think about all the places where our kids’ personal information is stored. The list includes doctors’ offices, schools, sports clubs, summer camps and youth groups, to say nothing of all the information that’s shared via social networks, chat groups, e-mail lists and more. Monitoring all that information would be a full-time job.
Of course you could constantly check the various credit agencies looking for suspicious activity but how many parents have the time to add this task to their already busy “to do” lists?
A better way is to subscribe to a monthly monitoring service. I have been testing kID Sure from Identity Guard, which costs just $4.99 per month. kID Sure constantly scours thousands of data sources, searching for information relating to your child and quickly alerts you if there is any suggestion your child might be at risk. And best of all, it provides that peace of mind we’re all looking for when it comes to the wellbeing of our kids.
Get a free information kit today to see how your child could be at risk, and take the right steps to protect your children from this increasingly common but still devastating crime.
The Online Mom receives a fee for participating in certain promotional campaigns for Identity Guard.
