Children falling victim to ID theft at alarming rate

According a recent study, an alarming number of children are victims of identity theft each year. The study, conducted by ID ANALYTICS, revealed that 140,000 children have their identity stolen each year and, in some cases, it goes undetected for years. According to the study, 60 percent of fake ID use alerts sent to those under the age of 18 are from the credit card industry, while the majority of the other alerts came from wireless providers. Tom Oscherwitz, the chief privacy officer at the firm, said that children made especially good targets from criminals because of their unblemished credit histories. "Child identity fraud poses complex challenges to consumers, businesses and regulators. Unfortunately, minors’ identities are particularly appealing to fraudsters because their personal data is untainted, legitimated and less likely to be monitored for misuse," said Oscherwitz in an interview with the news source. In recent days, a man from St. Louis, Missouri, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison after being convicted of identity theft-related crimes.