(CBS) Online scam artists are stealing the Social Security numbers of children and then selling them to sometimes unwary adults desperate to get higher credit scores so they can get loans and mortgages.
It’s a scam that requires parents to be on alert.
It’s one of the happiest occasions in life, welcoming a newborn baby into the world and your family.
It’s also the newborn’s first contact with the U.S. government as parents are asked in the hospital to apply for their child’s Social Security number.
That number, required to claim the child as a dependent on your tax return, is now the latest source of identity theft.
As millions of Americans see their credit scores drop below 600 – either because of their failure to pay bills on time during the recession or because the credit agencies make lots of mistakes – a market has developed for new and credit clean Social Security numbers.
That’s where the Social Security numbers of children come in.
Some unscrupulous online firms are stealing children’s numbers and converting them into nine-digit numbers called CPN’s or credit privacy numbers that act like Social Security numbers.
Since children do not have a credit history, the online scam artists say they can use these numbers to raise your credit score to 700 or 800 within months – often necessary to get loans, credit cards and home mortgages.
While it’s illegal for anyone to use another person’s Social Security number, CPN’s are legal.
But stealing a child’s Social Security number is still a crime and one that can come back to haunt innocent children later in life.
Once your child starts working, the stolen number with a credit history of someone else can cause tremendous problems.
Scammers can get a child’s Social Security number since parents often give it out when signing children up at schools, doctors’ offices, sports and other organizations.
As you do with your own Social Security number, be careful with your child’s number.
If you suspect a misuse of any Social Security number, the Federal Trade Commission has good advice on what to do.
